It's only your shadow
by LadyEvergreen
Summary: a unexpected person comes to Hogwarts and turns Hermiones life upside down. (LMHG)
1. a meeting in the library

Disclaimer : I don't own the characters, just borrowing the from J.K Rowling  
  
Pairing: Lucius/Hermione (maybe some other romances too, I don't know yet)  
  
AN : This is the first HP fic I upload and I hope it' not too bad. The paring can be considered a bit odd but if you don't like it, don't read it. I would appreciate if you all would review the story and tell me what you think.. *hugs* //LadyEvergreen  
  
Let the story begin!  
  
She had fallen in love with him, the one man she was not supposed to love, the one man she had hated since the first time they met. But that had changed, how and why she didn't know but somehow it had changed.  
  
It was a dark winter evening and she was sitting in the library absorbed in a book when he had entered. At first she did not notice him, standing there in the shadows watching her closely.  
  
"It's late" came a deep voice from a dark corner. In a split second she had got up and pointed her wand towards whoever was lurking in the shadows.  
  
"I notice those duelling classes have done some good Granger" Lucius Malfoy remarked sarcastically as he appeared from the shadows.  
  
"Mr Malfoy" She had tried to answer him with a tone of dislike, but did not work very well as her voice trembled and she somehow managed to sound somewhat pleased .  
  
"You seem pleased to see me Miss Granger" he purred moving slowly towards her.  
  
She couldn't believe it, here she was in a dark library with Lucius Malfoy coming towards her with a strange glint in his eyes. Not that she really would mind to do some.... things with him, he was a very good looking man.. the blond almost silver coloured hair, those ice blue eyes and the long graceful leather gloved hands.. 'No Hermione, he's a death eater you are supposed to hate him, not desire him' she mentally cursed. 'But you know you want him girl, think about it.... Those fingers can probably do more magic than both your wands together' a tiny voice remarked. 'No, no .. NO! That is disgusting, I would never want to be with that man' she argued but it was useless. The more she thought about it, the more she realised the voice was right, she did desire Lucius Malfoy.  
  
The man in question was now dangerously close to her, forcing her to back up against the wall. She knew she must look like a deer caught in the headlights because the smirk on his face was unmistakable. "No need to be afraid Granger, I wouldn't do anything that is not wanted by both of us" he drawled.  
  
"W..w..what are you talking about" She stuttered.  
  
"Oh, you know very well what I am talking about Granger. I am not blind you see, I notice the way you look at me" He said, his fingers playing with a lock of her chestnut curls.  
  
Suppressing the moan threatening to escape her lips she raised her eyebrow at Malfoy senior.  
  
"Really, and how am I looking at you, with the same desire and hunger you are looking at me?" she murmured, licking her lips seductively. 'Hermione Elisabeth Granger, did you just say that?!' a prudent little voice shrieked in her head. 'Shut it, I know what I'm doing' another snapped.  
  
"Getting a bit daring are we Granger? And yes, that is why I am sure we both want the same thing." Lucius whispered huskily as he let his hands trace the curves of her face and neck.  
  
"Glad we agree then Mr Malfoy" she muttered, trying not to go insane as his fingers continued to explore her body with the grace and lightness of the night breeze.  
  
As he leaned closer all her thoughts seemed to become blur and when their lips met she lost track of both time and space. At first he kissed her gently, sucking lightly on her lower lip, but soon the passion increased and the kisses became more forceful and desperate. For what seemed to be for ever they were in that position, kissing passionately, Hermione pressed up against the wall with no chance to escape even if she had wanted to. As the kiss ended they were both panting slightly and Hermiones cheeks had taken a shade of pink.  
  
"Well Granger, that was... interesting" he murmured trailing feather light kisses along her jaw line.  
  
She titled her head back and managed to whisper "Indeed" before a moan escaped her lips.  
  
Suddenly there was a sound behind them and Lucius drew slightly away from her. By the closest book shelf stood Ginny Weasly with raised eyebrows. Hermione felt a deep blush creep up on her cheeks, but Lucius only smirked.  
  
"Good evening. One of the many Weaslys I presume?"  
  
"Yes I am Ginny Weasly. Good evening Mr Malfoy."  
  
"Pleasure. It is nice to see that at least one of Arthur's children has developed a decent appearance."  
  
"..Thank you" Ginny said, puzzled over the fact that Malfoy senior actually had said a whole sentence without directly insulating her.  
  
Lucius now released Hermione from his embrace and kissed the back of her hand, giving the two young women a little smirk.  
  
"Until we meet again Miss Granger." And with that he left the library, his black robes billowing behind him.  
  
Hermione stood in silence, not daring to look at her friend.  
  
"Um.. how long have you been standing there?" she finally asked  
  
"Long enough to hear that Lucius Malfoy finds it interesting to kiss you" Ginny said with a teasing grin.  
  
Hermione muttered something inaudible as she suddenly seemed to find her feet very interesting.  
  
"No need to be embarrassed Herms. Snogging a fellow students father in the library is something that 7th year girls do all the time." Said her friend sarcastically.  
  
"I wasn't snogging him, just kissed him lightly, and besides.." Hermione said, trying to lead the conversation elsewhere, which of course was impossible.  
  
"Lightly kissed him, yeah sure you did. If I had walked in later I would probably have found you two in a more, let's say.. intimate situation"  
  
"That is not true, I would never do such a thing with Lucius Malfoy, he's a death eater for God's sake!"  
  
Ginny just laughed at Hermiones furious denial. "And a very handsome man" she teased, "I bet he has a lot of skills other than dark magic"  
  
"Shut up Gin, let's just go back to the common room, and don't tell anyone about this" Hermione growled collecting her books and straitened out her clothes. Then she left the library with a sniggering Ginny Weasly following right behind her.  
  
That night Hermione Granger couldn't sleep. She tossed back and forth in her bed trying to get the events of the evening out of her head but she failed miserably. The more she tried to forget him, the more the blond death eater seemed to haunt her mind.  
  
When she finally fell asleep hours later he didn't leave her. That night she, innocent as an angel dreamed of a man, evil as the dark depths of the night.  
  
End of chapter one.  
  
AN: Thank you for reading this far please review *smiles sweetly* . 


	2. meet me tonight

Chapter 2  
  
A/N: I received remarks about the fact that this chapter was grammatically incorrect, so this is a hopefully more correct version.  
  
"Hermione, wake up! Hermione!" someone shouted, followed by a loud banging on her door.  
  
"Okay, okay, I'm awake," she muttered crawling out of bed and stumbling towards the door.  
  
Outside was a very cheerful Harry with a big smile on his face.  
  
"Morning Herms, rough night?"  
  
"What? No, I uh... just couldn't sleep."  
  
"Well, you better hurry. You'll miss breakfast if you stand there too long."  
  
"Ok, I'll be out in 15 minutes," she said as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and closed the door.  
  
15 minutes later she met Harry, Ron and Ginny in the Common Room.  
  
"You look a bit tired Herms. No sleep last night ?" Ginny teased, barely able to hide her grin.  
  
"No, let's go to breakfast."  
  
Ginny laughed at Hermione's death glare and started walking towards the Great Hall.  
  
"Uh Harry, what was that about?" Ron asked.  
  
"No idea, but their women, we're not supposed to understand them."  
  
With a small laugh, they joined the others to breakfast. As they entered the Great Hall Hermione was trying desperately not to look like a nervous wreck. What would she do if he was there? Would he speak to her? Then what would she do?  
  
With millions of nervous questions swirling in her head, she entered the Great Hall with her friends.  
  
Lucius Malfoy looked up from his place at the staff table catching the sight of Hermione Granger. He had no idea why, but this girl made him curious and she was very beautiful with chestnut locks falling down her back and glittering cinnamon eyes.  
  
Over the years Hermione had grown into a woman with close to perfect curves. A change that had not gone unnoticed by the male population of Hogwarts. For a while Ron had tried to make her his girlfriend but, when he realized she was not interested, he gave up and settled to be her friend.  
  
With a small chuckle Lucius observed the girl who was clearly nervous. She had not yet spotted him where he sat at the end of the table on Severus Snapes left side.  
  
'Thank God, he's not here.' Hermione sighed in relief. But just as she had calmed down she spotted him at the end of the staff table, smirking at her.  
  
"Crap,"she muttered and tried to look an invisible as possible as she sat down at the Gryffindor table.  
  
"Ah, your new friend is here, Hermione." Ginny whispered.  
  
"Shut up and eat Ginny," Hermione growled and glared at her friend.  
  
Ginny smiled at Hermione's deadly glare and started humming quietly, "Herms and Malfoy kissing in a tree..."  
  
At this Hermione threw a piece of bread at her friends head.  
  
"Ow! You know food fights are not allowed here," she said with a smirk.  
  
"Just be glad I didn't curse you," Hermione muttered and got up and walked out of the Great Hall.  
  
"What's wrong with her this morning, Gin?" Ron asked his sister.  
  
"I have no idea," Ginny said and chuckled before returning to her breakfast.  
  
As Lucius saw Hermione leave the Great Hall he excused himself and stood up to leave.  
  
"We'll have to continue our conversation some other time Severus, I have matters to attend to," he said and with that he left the Great Hall.  
  
"Indeed you do," Severus said as Malfoy Senior strode out of the hall.  
  
Halfway back to the common room Hermione heard footsteps behind her.  
  
"Miss Granger, I do not think is very polite of you to just rush out of the hall without even greeting me good morning"  
  
She turned around and saw Lucius Malfoy standing a few feet away.  
  
"Good morning Mr. Malfoy," she said and felt a blush creep up on her cheeks.  
  
"Now, there is good manners Ms Granger. Good morning to you too" he drawled and began walking up to her.  
  
As he came closer she felt her legs turn to jelly and she almost lost her balance. 'Get a grip Granger, it's just Lucius Malfoy not Mr. Universe' she cursed.  
  
Still she couldn't help but staring at him. Something about this man made her curious, very curious. Without even noticing it she had backed up against the wall and was now captured between it and Malfoy.  
  
"A bit dejá vou, don't you think?" he whispered in her ear.  
  
She didn't manage to answer, she just let out a sigh.  
  
"Someone... could... come," she finally managed to stutter out.  
  
"That is half the fun. Stop trying to resist Miss Granger. You know you want this."  
  
"But..." Longer then this she didn't come before he covered her lips with his.  
  
A part of her wanted to push him away, telling him he was insane. But another part of her melted into his arms and responded to the kiss fully. Needless to say the last part won and she gave in.  
  
His hands were like magic (Yes, she did have a kind of hand fetish no one knew about) when they touched her body. Soft and gentle, but still with such perfection and experience. Yes, the man knew what he was doing. If she had been in her right state of mind she would probably have questioned herself what the hell she was doing, but this was far to pleasant for such thoughts.  
  
For some reason they were lucky that time and no one came down the corridor. When Lucius finally drew away from her she felt dizzy and light headed and a small smile formed on her lips. He ran his fingers along her swollen lips an looked her straight in the eyes. She had never thought of how beautiful his eyes were. They were steel grey with a bit of blue in them. Those eyes could with one stare make even the bravest man run and hide, but they also made Hermione's knees become weak and her heart beat so hard it felt like it was about to fly out of her chest. They stood there for what seemed to be for ever, his grey eyes meeting her cinnamon ones.  
  
She was just about to gather the courage to ask him why he was doing this but suddenly there were footsteps and he released her.  
  
"Meet me in the entrance hall 7 o'clock tonight," he whispered before he left her standing speechless in the hall, looking at his back.  
  
"Earth to Hermione, earth to Hermione," she heard Harry's voice like in a dream a little while later and she did not react before he shook her arm slightly.  
  
"What—uh—yes?"  
  
"Herms, what's the matter with you this morning?"  
  
"Nothing Harry, I'm fine." she said hoping they wouldn't notice the blush on her cheeks and her slightly swollen lips.  
  
"If you say so. Come on now, we have herbology in 10 minutes," he said, but looked suspiciously at her.  
  
As they walked down to the greenhouse she tried to keep her mind on other things than Lucius Malfoy and Harry and Ron's conversation didn't make it easier.  
  
"What do you think Lucius Malfoy is here?" Ron asked.  
  
"Well from what I have heard, it's not his choice. The ministry sent him here to inspect how the school works or something."  
  
"I bet he is going to do everything in his power to ruin our lives," Ron muttered.  
  
Hermione found herself thinking that so far Mr. Malfoy hadn't ruined anything for her. With a small smile playing on her lips, she entered greenhouse number four. Even to Hermione the class was boring. For over an hour they had to listen to professor Sprouts constant rambling about the importance of herbology.  
  
When they were finally let out he couldn't help but yawn loudly.  
  
"So not even the perfect mudblood, Granger, can stay awake in class."  
  
She sighed and turned around to see Draco smirking at her. It was scary how much he looked like his father sometimes. Wait, his father... It was then it hit her. The man her knees went weak for was Draco Malfoy's father. ' His father who has a wife!' The thoughts were swirling in her head. What was she doing? She had been with a married man. Well not actually "been with", but still... she had kissed him twice. Without noticing the strange looks the three boys gave her he took of to the castle.  
  
As she walked along the corridors she muttered to herself :"What am I doing?! I agreed to meet him tonight. Well, not actually agreed, but I didn't object which means I have to go"  
  
She soon arrived outside the Gryffindor Common Room.  
  
"Strawberry bubble bath," she said and the portrait swung aside.  
  
Later that night she sat in one of the huge red armchairs absorbed in a book about animagus transformations completely unaware about her surroundings. That is, until Harry sneaked up behind the chair and threw his cloak in her face.  
  
"Why did you do that for?! You could have given me a heart attack!"  
  
"Relax 'Mione, I don't think heart attacks are very common for 17 year old girls." Harry chuckled and patted the frowning Hermione on the shoulder.  
  
"Then I guess I would have been the first," she pouted.  
  
"Oh come on, stop arguing with him 'Mione. No need to get upset. Besides I'm starving, let's go for dinner."  
  
Rolling her eyes Hermione followed the boys out of the room and they headed for the great hall. The dinner was roast chicken and rice and the boys ate like they had never seen food before but Hermione just poked at the chicken with the fork.  
  
The fact that Malfoy wasn't present made her nervous, he could be anywhere in the castle. Anywhere. He could be spying on her. He could... Damn, she was getting paranoid. He was probably off somewhere in business or something. Still she was nervous out of her mind about the meeting 7'o clock. She had to do something about that, but what? After some debating with herself, and enough poking with the fork to make the chicken look like a strange kind of pudding, she decided to talk to Ginny.  
  
"Uh Ginny, I need to talk to you. Are you finished?"  
  
"Yeah, sure. What's up 'Mione?"  
  
"Could we take it outside?" Hermione asked hesitantly.  
  
"Sure. Come on, lets go for a walk".  
  
As they left the Great Hall, Hermione couldn't help but look back to see if Lucius was there. But no, the seat next to Snape was still empty.  
  
The man in question, Snape, watched the students leave the dining hall and then his head to the left.  
  
"You know Lucius, it doesn't matter how much you are enjoying it. It is not very polite to spy on someone in your invisible form."  
  
Only a soft chuckle was heard from the seemingly non-existent man next to him 


	3. Moonlight sonata

A/N: Before you read this chapter please note that the rating has gone up a bit to somewhere around [R] If you do not like this, do not read But if you don't have any problem with it you are very welcome to go on =)  
  
Ok, here is the third chapter. Sorry it took so long, had a bit trouble with some thing. I would like to give a huge thank you to those who offered to be my beta for this story and now I have one. I've also got a few remarks that the story is eventless, but I assure you all there will be happening a lot further in the story. But if you think the story is bad and eventless, don't read it, read something you like instead. And now before the story continues I would like to say Thank you! To everybody who has reviewed my story. Ok enough with the 'thank you' and on to the story, hope you like it. //LadyEvergreen  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Hermione led Ginny out of the castle and didn't stop until they came to a secluded little rose garden. Even though it was winter the bushes were filled with beautiful ,blood red roses, glowing in contrast to the thin layer of snow on the ground.  
  
Before Ginny had the chance to ask her friend what was wrong, Hermione threw her arms up in frustration.  
  
"What am I going to do? How could I be so stupid? He has a wife and I actually agreed to...," she said frantically.  
  
"Calm down 'Mione! Now take one thing at the time. What did you do? Why are you so stupid? And what did you agree to?"  
  
"I kissed Lucius Malfoy, a death eater, twice and I agreed to meet him in the entrance hall seven o'clock tonight." She sighed and sunk down on a stone bench.  
  
To Hermione's surprise Ginny burst out laughing. Shaking her head she sat down on the bench next to Hermione.  
  
"You have really gotten yourself into quite a mess my friend, but who knows, it might be worth it."  
  
"Worth it? What do you mean?"  
  
"I'm sure you will see tonight. Now come on, it's freezing out here and it looks like it's about to snow again." With this she got up from the bench and started walking back.  
  
"But Ginny wait! So, you think I should go?" Hermione called and ran after her friend, as small glittering snowflakes began to fall.  
  
"Yes, I do. Now come on before I'll freeze to death."  
  
*30 minutes later*  
  
Hermione walked back and forth in her room. It was 15 minutes until she was going to meet Lucius and—wait, since when did she call him Lucius? Shaking her head she crossed the room once again and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.  
  
Her hair looked like she had recently got out of bed and her eyes were half closed and looked like she was hardly awake. Taking a quick turn she headed to her private bathroom. This was one of the advantages, along with having her own room; she got for being Head Girl. She smiled at the memory of how happy she had become when she found out that she was to be head girl.  
  
Turning the attention to her reflection Hermione groaned. What was there to do about this? Deciding that it was hopeless to make her hair look decent, she pulled it up and tied it loosely with a black, velvet ribbon and let a few strands of hair fall down the sides of her face. 'Black velvet ribbon. Like Lucius.' 'Oh no, girl don't even go there. He is not to touch!' Scowling at the voices in her head she applied a bit of makeup to fix her eyes and gave her reflection one last glance.  
  
"I think I'm developing a double personality. This Malfoy thing is definetly NOT good for me." she muttered and closed the bathroom door.  
  
Deciding to wear only a white shirt and a black skirt, she headed towards the entrance hall. The closer Hermione got to where she was to meet Malfoy; the harder it got to keep a straight face and not look like she was about to have a mental breakdown .  
  
But when she came down the stairs there was no one there, only a single white rose floating in the air with a piece of parchment attached to it.  
  
Hermione took the rose and smelled it carefully. It was not just the usual sweet scent of a rose; it seemed to hold all the secret scents of every corner of the dark night. Smiling she read the attached note which was written with a florid, yet masculine, style.  
  
Good evening, Miss Granger,  
  
How nice of you to come. Unfortunately, I could not be here when you arrived, but please join me in room 21. If you do not know the way, the rose shall help you"  
  
Lucius Malfoy.  
  
Confused Hermione looked at the letter. Room 21, she had no idea the rooms at Hogwarts had numbers; 'Hogwarts a history' never said anything about that. Suddenly the rose started glowing. She let it go and it started to float up along the staircase. Following the pale, pearl white glow she was soon on her way, up a creaky staircase, to one of the towers of Hogwarts. At the top of the stairs the white rose stopped glowing and attached itself in Hermione's hair. The wooden door in front of her was made of darkest ebony and on it was what looked like a family crest. An M encircled with roses and a small raven in the corner. Below the crest, the number '21' was written in silver.  
  
'I wonder what kind of room this is' She thought, tracing the marks on the door with her index finger. Just as she touched the raven, it let out a small sound and moved it's wings and the whole crest started glowing in pale silver. With a soft click the door unlocked and opened. Hermione carefully took a step into a circular room. It was not very big and didn't hold very much furniture. The only pieces of furniture were an ebony bookshelf, a deep red day bed and a large grand piano turned to face one of the windows, which overlooked the lake.  
  
Pale, soft moonlight was the only thing that lit up the room apart from a silver chandelier. The gleam of the moon fell on the person playing a familiar tune on the grand. His silver blond hair was falling gracefully over his shoulders and gleamed in the moonlight  
  
"The Moonlight Sonata," she said mostly to herself, not able to take her eyes off the man by the grand.  
  
"Yes, suitable, isn't it?" Lucius said without looking up.  
  
"Indeed, it is" Hermione answered while walking up behind him. The soft glow of the moonlight made him look almost surreal and she felt a shivering, yet hot feeling run through her body.  
  
For some reason all the nervousness was gone and the schoolgirl was now replaced with a more mature and defiantly more daring Hermione Granger. He seemed to have that kind of effect on her.  
  
"Mr. Malfoy, you never told me why you wanted to see me."  
  
"Don't you think that is rather obvious, Ms Granger? I got the impression that you wouldn't mind seeing me again. Or am I wrong?" He said and she could almost hear him smirk at his own words.  
  
Letting the last tone fall Lucius stood up, towering over Hermione. Slowly he started circling around her, drinking in every curve of her body with hungry eyes. Hermione watched every move he made, not letting her guard fall. She was determine that he wouldn't have his way with her. Well, at least not before she had gotten the answers she wanted, and she knew she had to ask him before she lost control of the situation.  
  
'Wait; hold it, what was that? Was she going to let him have his way with her at all? Sure he was a very handsome man, but he was a death eater and far to old for her. Well, he was not that old.' Hermione mentally kicked herself. When were the annoying voices in her head going to stop popping up out of nowhere?  
  
Following him with her eyes she opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it.  
  
"As for your questions about my marriage, I did have a wife and still have on paper but she has been living in France for quite a time now and I highly doubt that she will come back other than to sign a divorce." he stated calmly.  
  
"But I thought wizard marriages was everlasting, something about the eternal bonds of hearts, and that divorces only existed in the muggle world."  
  
"Ah, but you see Ms Granger, there are two types of wizard marriages; The eternal bond which you speak of, mostly used in cases of true unquestionable love and then there is the most common type which allows you to take out divorce if you wish to, which by the way is about the only thing except music muggles succeeded in."  
  
"But don't you love your wife Mr. Malfoy?" Hermione asked, curious about what kind of relationship a man like Lucius Malfoy would have to his wife.  
  
"Well, never truly. I did become quite fond of her company over the years, but we grew apart as expected from an arranged marriage."  
  
"Arranged?"  
  
"Yes. Arranged. But I do not believe that my marriage is so interesting that we have to discuss it all night. I think I can imagine a few things I rather do." He said silkily, moving closer with panther-like movements.  
  
"I am sure you can, but I like to know what I am dealing with. Wouldn't want to have a mad Mrs. Malfoy after me, accusing me of stealing her husband," Hermione said dryly and took a step back.  
  
Chuckling slightly he followed her, but she backed. As she backed once again he took a few more steps and this continued until she hit something hard with her legs.  
  
"No need to run Granger, you will give in to me eventually, and you know it," he purred in a low seductive voice and gave her a push so she was fully trapped between him and the grand, feeling his fast heartbeats against her chest.  
  
"Really, do you think so?" Hermione snorted playfully, raising an eyebrow, running her fingers across his smooth cheek and through his blond hair.  
  
"No, I don't think so Miss Granger. I know so." And with this he swept her up in his arms, placing her on the grand. Her feet touching the keys and making small sounds that echoed trough the room.  
  
"Someone needs to teach you, Lucius Malfoy, that you don't know everything," she whimpered as he placed small kisses along her jaw line, continuing down her neck with the lightness of butterfly wings.  
  
Feeling him smile against the soft skin in the crook of her neck, she felt hot jolts running through every inch of her body, making her cheeks flush in a slight shade of pink.  
  
"Then perhaps you can teach me a lesson someday," he murmured quietly before catching her lips with his own.  
  
His embrace was strong, possessive, as if he was determined to not let her get away and Hermione wasn't to try either. Once again she felt her body melt into him and she wrapped her arms tighter around his neck, losing herself in the moment. This kiss was not as soft and careful as the others, this one was rough, passionate and possessive and there was no doubt where this was going to lead.  
  
For a moment she came to her senses and understood what was to happen and broke away from him.  
  
"Stop this, we can not." She breathed, her breath hitching in her chest as Lucius lightly nipped her earlobe.  
  
"You do not sound convincing, my Lady." he whispered, tracing kisses along her ear and then capturing her earlobe in his mouth again, sucking it lightly.  
  
It was useless; she didn't have either the strength or the will for that matter, to stop him. Moaning softly she laid back, giving him full access to her body. As Lucius slowly unbuttoned her shirt, he looked down on the young woman in front of him. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyelids half closed in passion, she was a truly beautiful arousing sight, with her tussled hair partly hiding her face and the pale skin glowing in the light of the chandelier.  
  
Suddenly looked up and stared him straight in the eyes, hers gleaming like the stars on the night sky. Her eyes were no longer the innocent ones of an innocent young girl. They were now darker and shone with passion and desire, showing exactly what she wanted. Without taking his eyes away from hers, he pulled her up into a sitting position and pushed the white shirt of her shoulders.  
  
"Do you want this?" he whispered, looking her straight into her eyes.  
  
"As if I would be able to stop you if I didn't," she snorted. "But I do know what I want and believe me; I would be highly disappointed if we didn't continue"  
  
"You do have a point there, Hermione," he chuckled, nuzzling her hair.  
  
Her heart swelled at the sound of her name coming from his mouth, touching her ears like velvet.  
  
"I always have a point, Lucius dear," she said with a smile, bending her head down and kissed the skin of his neck, earning a moan from deep inside his throat.  
  
"Indeed." He smirked and gave her a slight push so she was lying on top of the grand. (A/N: Think "pretty woman" scenario here)Trailing feather light kisses on her belly Lucius found himself amazed that the girl actually gave in to him so easy. He had expected her to put up somewhat of a fight, at least until she realized it was useless to try. But no, here she was, lying in front of him, happy to go along with whatever he suggested. Pushing all current thoughts away, he concentrated fully on pleasing the beautiful being beneath him.  
  
"You know Lucius, you are far to overdressed," she muttered as he unbuttoned her skirt, pulling it off her hips.  
  
"Again you have a point, my dear," Lucius said with a small laugh and took a step back to take in the sight of her lying on the grand only wearing underwear. It still surprised him that he had even looked at her in the first place. She was nothing but a muggleborn, 18-year old witch, but still she enthralled him in a way he couldn't explain.  
  
Deciding that she had been deserted on the grand for far too long, Hermione got up, hopped off it and walked over to Lucius. The thick, heavy, black robes he normally wore were lying on the day bed and he was clothed in a black, silk shirt, deep blue, wool vest and black, wool pants. After unbuttoning and throwing the vest aside, she quickly started on the shirt until Lucius stopped her hands.  
  
"A bit impatient, are we?" He chuckled, again attacking her neck with his mouth, nibbling softly with his teeth, creating goose bumps on her skin.  
  
"Yes, I've never been a very patient girl," she muttered and with a final tug she managed to get his shirt of and threw it aside on the floor.  
  
"Indeed, that is very interesting Hermione, but I think I'll have to teach you patience someday." He chuckled, but they sound was soon replaced by a moan deep in his throat when Hermione kissed her way down his neck and muscular chest.  
  
"We need a more comfortable place for this than the floor," he whispered, voice dark and raspy with desire.  
  
Looking around the room for something to transform into a bed Hermione's eyes fell on the daybed by one of the windows. Taking up her wand, which was laying on the floor with her clothes, she transformed the daybed to a huge soft bed with black. silk sheets.  
  
"Excellent choice, my dear," he chuckled, lifting her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.  
  
*****  
  
Hours later she lay in his arms, looking through the window at the moon and the stars outside.  
  
"Is anything bothering you my pet?" He whispered, his fingers playing with a lock of her hair.  
  
"No Lucius, not at all. Everything is perfect. I was just wondering..."  
  
"Wondering what?" he asked as she turned to face him.  
  
"Why you did this? Why you even bothered to talk to me that evening in the library?"  
  
"Do you regret coming here tonight Hermione?" Lucius asked lifting up her chin so she looked him straight in the eyes.  
  
"No I don't, never. But why did you even asked me to come here? Last thing I knew you loathed me as much as your son does," she snorted.  
  
"I've never loathed you Hermione. I just thought that you were below me. And besides, you are an intriguing young woman. You interest me, Hermione."  
  
"I'm glad to hear that, but as you said I am below you. I'm a muggleborn you know," she snorted.  
  
"I'm perfectly aware of our difference in the social matter, but I have been watching you as long as I've been in this castle and as for intellect there are few who reach your level and that please me."  
  
"Really, I got the idea that the reason why you brought me here wasn't my intellect," she teased and giggled as he pulled her in to his arms, rolling her around so she was on top of him.  
  
"You are indeed a very intelligent young woman Hermione, but let us not talk now. There are far more pleasing thing we could do," he smirked, his lips meeting hers.  
  
Fire was burning inside Hermione's body; she had never felt like this before. One touch from him was enough to fill her with desire and drive her crazy. His kisses were like fire on her pale skin and she responded to his body in a way she never even dreamed would be possible. Just a few hours ago, he had made her see stars in dark swirls of passion numerous of times. Sighing in bliss she gave in to him and all current thoughts left her and nothing was more important than the moment when their bodies joined.  
  
The sun was streaming through the window waking Hermione up. Cuddling closer to the warmth of the man beside her something hit her. 'The sun is up, it must be morning!' She was suddenly very awake and quickly climbing out of bed and collecting her clothes. "Leaving me so soon my dear?" a sleepy voice was heard saying from the bed.  
  
"I have to. I've already missed half the transfiguration class" she said. Quickly she putt on her clothes, transformed a blanket to look like one of her school robes.  
  
"If you just tell Professor McGonagall where you were I am sure she will be prepared to forgive you for missing her class," he smirked from where he sat in the huge bed, propped up on pillows  
  
"I highly doubt she will," Hermione muttered placing a chaste kiss on Lucius lips before rushing out of the room.  
  
Watching the door slam closed, he chuckled to himself.  
  
"Oh my dear, you never know. You never know."  
  
******  
  
Hermione ran down the stairs and through the corridors towards the transfiguration classroom.  
  
"Accio transfiguration books," she muttered as caught the books in the air while rounding a corner. But what she didn't catch was a look of Professor Snape who was coming around the corner in the same time. And with a loud thud she ran straight into him.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry professor. I'm late for class and I..."  
  
"Save the excuses Ms Granger and go to class," he snarled and left her, continuing his walk.  
  
'He must be ill! He didn't take any house points for running straight into him.' Hermione thought surprised but relieved.  
  
As Severus walked down the corridor he thought about Ms Granger. 'Poor girl probably thought I was ill. But I have no desire to know more about what she has done this morning.' he thought with a slight grimace.  
  
Hermione reached the classroom and knocked on the door  
  
"Enter." McGonagall's stern voice came from inside.  
  
Trying not to be noticed she slipped to her seat beside Harry and Ron.  
  
"Miss Granger, how nice of you to join us this morning. Did you oversleep?" the professor asked sternly.  
  
"Uh.. Yes, I did. I'm sorry professor," she said quietly opening her books.  
  
"Well, don't let it happen again, and 5 points from Gryffindor for being late."  
  
The rest of the class was rather eventless and they were soon heading back to the common room to get their books for the next class- potions. In the common room they were greeted by Ginny who was doing her homework.  
  
"Uh, 'Mione, why do you have frays at the bottom of your robe?" she asked, taking a closer at Hermione's robe.  
  
Quickly looking at her robes Hermione realized her mistake. She had not been doing the spell fully and the frays were, as Ginny said, left on her robe.  
  
"I.. Ginny can I talk to you for a minute?"  
  
"Yes, of course. Boys, why don't you meet 'Mione in the dungeons?" Ginny winked to Harry and her brother.  
  
"Ok, see you girls." They said and left the room without further questions.  
  
"So 'Mione, where were you last night. I couldn't find you?" Ginny said trying to hide the amusement in her voice.  
  
"I went to see Lucius as you told me and he wasn't there but he had left me a rose with a note, and the rose lead me to a room in one of the towers where he was waiting." Hermione explained, speaking very quickly and very quietly.  
  
"But why didn't you come back later? Oh..." Realization suddenly dawned on Ginny's face. "No you didn't do that Hermione. You didn't sleep with him, did you?"  
  
"Well...uh.. I..."  
  
"You slept with him! You actually slept with Lucius Malfoy!" Ginny shrieked.  
  
"Sschh , someone may hear you! And to answer your question is yes, I did." Hermione said, feeling a goofy smile spreading on her face.  
  
"So it was that good? Come on. I wanna hear details. Maybe he can teach his son some things!"  
  
Hermione smiled at Ginny's eager questions. It was no secret that she had been in love with Draco for over a year and was now out to get what she wanted. She was quite sure Draco wouldn't turn Ginny down; he had been giving her rather appreciative looks lately. Yes, this time of year was defiantly going the way people wanted it to.  
  
"I'll tell you some later, but not everything, I don't think you want to hear every detail. But I have to go to class now." Hermione said in an innocent tone. Ginny didn't say anything; she just gave her friend an amused look and returned to her work.  
  
With a smile playing on her lips Hermione left for the dungeons. Yes, this day had begun very nice indeed and hopefully it would stay good even though next class were potions.  
  
But what she didn't know was that potions class would be more eventful than expected.  
  
End of chapter 3.  
  
Please review =) 


	4. It's unbreakable, It's eternal

A/N: Ok everyone, here is chapter 4. Finally! Sorry about the delay, but I had to re-write almost the entire thing. Before the story continues I have a request. I am in the need of a new beta reader for the upcoming chapters! The one who is now beta reading "It's only your shadow" is going away so I need all the help I can get since I am now about halfway through chapter 5 Now on to the story ;)  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Hermione was rarely late for class, but this morning was one of those times she somehow had managed to be exceptionally slow and had to run to potions class.  
  
When she finally arrived at the dungeons, she stopped in front of the classroom door to catch her breath. Hoping that she might not be that late, she carefully opened the door and moved silently along the wall of the classroom. Unfortunately, the plan, of slipping past Snape unnoticed, did not work.  
  
"So you have decided to join us this morning after all Miss Granger. Seven points from Gryffindor for being late," Snape drawled, his voice dripping of cold sarcasm as he towered in front of her.  
  
"Damn," she cursed under her breath, before looking up at Snape. "Yes Professor, I did, and I do apologize for being late for class. I.."  
  
"Please spare me your story, Miss Granger, and sit, or you shall lose more house points than you already have," Severus snarled, leaving the girl mentally stabbing daggers into his back. He had no desire whatsoever to know what thoughts or doings that had delayed her.  
  
Muttering curses at her professor, Hermione moved to the back of the classroom. Suddenly she saw something moving in the corner and Lucius stepped out of the shadows with a pleased look on his face. Her breath caught in her. Meeting Lucius eyes, Hermione saw the typical 'Lucius smirk' play in the corners of his mouth. Her cheeks felt like they were about to catch fire. The man certainly had a thing for lurking in the shadows.  
  
At this moment, Professor Snape cleared his throat and spoke with a dry tone. "If Miss Granger could take her seat, perhaps we could begin the class?"  
  
Tearing her eyes away from Lucius, she quickly sat down and turned her attention to Professor Snape. Doing her best to listen and take notes, but this was of course doomed to fail.  
  
After less the five minutes her mind had wandered of to far more interesting things and she didn't catch a word what her professor said.  
  
Harry sat down by Hermione's side, as he had been told by Snape, and asked her about the upcoming assignment but she didn't answer him. When he didn't receive a reaction after asking her three times he poked her sharply on her arm.  
  
With a yelp Hermione woke up from her daydream about a certain blond  
  
wizard.  
  
"What?" she asked, glaring at Harry.  
  
"The assignment. Remember? The one that we are supposed to do to get top grade," Harry said, barely able to hide an amused grin as he watched his friend's reaction.  
  
"What? Snape never said anything about that! Which one is it, what if..." Hermione rambled frantically.  
  
Evidently amused at her hysteric reaction, Harry laughed as he patted her on the back.  
  
"Calm down 'Mione, I was merely joking. No reason to explode," he said, grinning at her.  
  
First, she only stared at him but then her expression changed and she gave him her infamous Hermione glare's that could freeze hell if she'd like it to.  
  
"Not amusing, not amusing at all," she muttered and turned to look at the black board where Snape had written the instructions of the potion they were going to brew.  
  
For her, it was a simple truth potion and soon she had begun to work on it.  
  
"Hey 'Mione, would you mind telling me what we're doing?" Harry asked after a while.  
  
"Read the instructions Harry. I do believe you have the ability to read," she said sharply, without looking up.  
  
"A bit cranky today, are we?" Harry chuckled as he read the instructions.  
  
Hermione managed to keep herself from biting back at Harry, but was barely able to. The truth was that she was did feel cranky and confused and lots of other things she couldn't name. The thoughts of what had happened last night didn't leave her alone, and not all of them were pleasant. What had made her do that? Sleep with a man that soon. 'How could I be so stupid? One could think that I should show some intelligence in that kind of a situation. But oh no, I did not even object, I acted like I'm some kind of cheap slut. God knows what he must think of me.' she thought sadly.  
  
"I would never consider you cheap Hermione, never. You are worth so much more."  
  
Hermione jumped at the silky soothing voice, which seemed to come out of nowhere.  
  
"No reason to be afraid my pet, no reason to be afraid." The voice was heard again, deep and soothing and this time followed by a low chuckle. She now recognized the voice. The deep, silky tone of Lucius Malfoy's voice sent a tingling feeling through her body and she carefully turned to look at him.  
  
His face was partly hidden in the shadows were he sat in the back, but she could see his eyes glistening as he looked her.  
  
"You see my pet. It's just me."  
  
"I figured that. But how do you do it?" she thought, hoping that he would hear her.  
  
"It's actually quite simple, and very useful. You had some interesting ideas there a while ago I must say," he purred and she could almost hear the lopsided grin twisting in the corners of his mouth.  
  
As he spoke the last words, her cheeks reddened, those thoughts were private, very private.  
  
"Uh, exactly for how long have you been reading my mind if I might ask?"  
  
"Long enough to know that you maybe would like to try."  
  
She stopped him before he said something that probably would make her fall of her chair.  
  
"Don't go there Lucius, I'm in class," she thought, trying to make the statement sound stern, but she received nothing but an amused look from him as she turned around.  
  
"We'll discuss that later then. Now go back to your potion and you shall hear from me later." And with that his presence in her was gone. For some reason she felt empty, like a piece of her had been removed when he left.  
  
"No, no. I do not feel that way about him; I am not in love with him." she muttered as she begun to chop ingredients.  
  
"You don't feel what 'Mione?" Harry asked and stopped stirring the half finished potion.  
  
"Never mind Harry. Here, put these into the potion and stir three times clockwise," she said, pushing her worries away and handing him the final ingredients.  
  
Just as Harry was finished doing so, a loud explosion was heard and a thick blue fluid poured all over the dungeon floor.  
  
"Everybody out of the way! Mr. Longbottom what did you do this time?" Snape roared furiously, as he and his students quickly advanced on top of the desks.  
  
Poor Neville stood completely petrified and would have been drenched in the potion if Ron hadn't gotten hold of his robe and pulled him on to a desk.  
  
In the same time Hermione was going to get up on her desk, a gurgling sound was heard and the desk tipped over as the blue fluid created a wave and she lost her balance. Before she could react she felt someone pull her backwards into a warm embrace. She was now standing with her back pressed against Lucius' chest, on top of a disregarded desk, in the corner of the classroom.  
  
"Ah Miss Granger, what a pleasure," he whispered seductively in her ear and discreetly let his hands travel along the curves of her waist and hips, making her squirm in his arms.  
  
Hermione quickly captured his hands in hers before they had reached some, for the moment, inappropriate places. As their hands joined Hermione felt the same warm electric spark shot through her body she had felt the very first time he had touched her.  
  
"Lucius, please, don't do that," she whimpered weakly and tried to clear her blurry, spinning thoughts, as he softly nuzzled the hair just above her ear.  
  
"Afraid we might get caught? Though I highly doubt that since everyone is busy not getting killed by your friend's potion," Lucius whispered, referring to the chaos in the classroom. Almost every inch of the floor was now covered in a sticky blue mess and students were careful not to even look at it, or their potions master, either, for that matter. The man in question was now even more furious then any of them had ever seen him and his dark eyes flashed dangerously as he turned towards Neville.  
  
"Mr. Longbottom, you have gone too far! I told all of you how dangerous any potion can be if you brew it carelessly, and yet you did! I don't ever want to see you in my classroom again, ever! Get out!" Neville was practically shaking with fear at the professors' rage.  
  
"But sir I can't..." he stuttered, referring to the fact that he was not able to get out without touching the floor.  
  
"Enough! You shall loose 50 house points , earn a month worth of detention with Filch and write an essay about the risks of brewing potions. Now leave my classroom!" Snape growled dangerously, casting evil looks at his students.  
  
"But professor, I..."  
  
"I said GET OUT!"  
  
Hermione wriggled free from Lucius' embrace and raised her voice so Snape could hear her.  
  
"Sir, first of all, none of us can get out as long as the potion is here and second, you can not just kick out a student from the classroom and tell him to not come back ever again," she said calmly gesturing towards the floor, then folding her arms over her chest.  
  
"Not a very wise move Miss Granger," Lucius muttered as he knew to well just how furious Severus Snape actually could get. It was not that he was afraid of Severus, just afraid of missing his lunch, since he already had missed breakfast. Before Snape had the chance to spat an answer and a punishment at Hermione, Lucius calmly cut in.  
  
"As much as I hate to disturb you from torturing your students, I would appreciate if we all got out of here. I have far more important things to do than spend the day in a damp dungeon with the annoying brats some of you actually call students," he sneered coldly, with an ever so superior 'Malfoy as he looked around the room with a look of complete disgust in his face.  
  
With eyes still flashing with anger, Snape took a deep breath to calm himself and then waved his wand and the mess on the floor disappeared.  
  
"See, that was not so hard. Was it?" Lucius drawled and then, gracefully, left the bench and strode out of the classroom.  
  
Severus was clearly cursing at him as he left the dungeon, but Lucius felt far too pleased to care.  
  
Hermione was stunned that she didn't get punished for her earlier comments so she did not complain when Snape told them to leave. She left very fast.  
  
Hurrying up the stairs she felt her stomach growl in protest. She realized that she hadn't eaten since dinner yesterday.  
  
"Night activities do make one hungry, don't they?" she heard Lucius say, in a familiar deep voice, from the shadows.  
  
"Don't you ever get tired of lurking in the shadows?" she sighed, turning to face him where he was leaning against the wall, still a satisfied smirk playing in the corners of his mouth.  
  
"No, they are useful. No one ever seeks to know what hides in the shadow behind them. It is frightening to know that someone might know every step you take, every move you make. That someone might be watching you." At first his tone was confident and slightly amused, but the last words were spoken in a soft whisper. She had never heard him like this before. Gone was the sarcasm and coldness. Now there was something else. Something neither of them could name.  
  
Before she could give him an answer he had covered her lips with his and pulled her to him in a soaring kiss, making every sensible thought leave her. Time was stopping at his very touch. Stars and trickles of joy were filling her entire being and nothing else made more sense than that very moment. Wrapping her arms around his neck she clung to him as her life depended on it. It was different this time he kissed her. There was something more than the physical passion she had felt the night before; something new and something so wonderful, but in the same time frightening. Her heart raced wildly in her chest as she felt his tongue trace her lips, begging for entrance and she was not late in opening her mouth slightly, allowing him in.  
  
Lucius mind was screaming to make him stop, to draw away and make her beg for it, but he couldn't. He just couldn't make himself draw away from her soft lips. Only as he felt something warm and damp against his cheek he broke away. Carefully taking her small face in his hands he saw that her eyes glistened with fresh tears.  
  
"What is the matter little one? Why do you cry?" Lucius asked, holding her face between his hands.  
  
"I don't know. It's just that I, I ..." she could not make herself say it. Tell him that she might was falling in love with him. One just did not tell a man like Lucius that you might love him after being his... whatever she was to him, only for a little more than two days.  
  
"Tell me Hermione, tell me why you are crying," he pleaded softly, amazed by the fact the he actually cared why she was crying. Normally he was not a man to care for any other person than himself, but this was different. That one single tear on her face had melted something inside his cold, unloving heart.  
  
"I am sorry Lucius, I can't tell you. Not now or not ever for that matter," Hermione whispered and then soundlessly buried her face in his cloak. Sobs shook her small frame as she wondered in a corner of her mind why she reacted this way. She hardly ever cried anymore but this was far out of her control.  
  
Holding the young woman tight to him he kissed the top of her head. Why did he bother to comfort her? This was not what he was here for. He was not going to make the girl fall in love with him, only bring her with him. It was his orders, his duty. But the more he thought about it, the clearer it became to him that he couldn't do it. He could not take her with him; she deserved so much more. No matter what could happen to him if he refused to follow orders. The question was now where his loyalties lay, with something that had been there for his whole life or with something that had just now touched his heart like nothing ever before.  
  
Softly rocking the young woman back and forth in his arms, Lucius felt her slowly begun to relax against him, the sobs fading away. Kissing the top of her head once again, he pulled away a bit and bent down to look at her.  
  
Hermione felt Lucius' burning gaze, but was afraid to look up at him. She could not really tell what had made her burst in to tears so suddenly, but everything had ,and still did, seem so hopeless. A relationship between them, though he would probably never consider her as a partner, would fail miserably. For when people found out at least one of them was going to pay with life.  
  
"I am really sorry Lucius. I don't know what happened to me, I've never been one to cry," she said, trying to convince both him and herself that there was nothing to be worried about.  
  
Looking at him she saw the question in his eyes.  
  
"Really, I am fine. It's nothing to worry about. Just a hormonal outburst," Hermione said with the best fake smile she could muster.  
  
He looked at her for a while then shook his head, the blond hair shifting slightly.  
  
"My dear Hermione, you are a horrible liar. But you are going to tell me later how you really are, for I must go now. But before I leave I would like to apologize to you." She tried to speak but he put a finger over her lips to silence her. "I should never have used you the way I did last night. Such actions are under my dignity." It was scary what a talented liar he had become over the years, but not that strange come to think of where his loyalties had been. But this time he just might mean what he said.  
  
Hermione snorted at his last statement. Such actions were not under his dignity, she new that far to well. She had heard of what the Death Eaters did to torture women.  
  
"Are they really beneath you? I have heard other things," she said, looking down at her feet.  
  
"Yes, in this case what I say is true, believe me." He spoke softly and lightly touched her arm. Looking up at him with doubt in her eyes Hermione wondered why she even bothered to be here. Even if they got to spend time together, she was surely just a way to make time pass for him as he was at Hogwarts.  
  
"I...I have to go now," she stuttered, feeling fresh tears filling her eyes. Without another word she turned around and ran away from him. She ran as fast as she could, away from the sound of his voice as he called after her.  
  
As she ran through the corridors of Hogwarts, tears where falling freely down her cheeks, making her surroundings blur. When her legs went numb from the running, she fell to the floor, her whole body shaking, all her despair coming out in desperate sobs. Why did she act this way? There was no reason to break down, nothing had really happened. But in the moment Lucius had 'entered her mind' in the dungeons, something came over her, something she had never felt before.  
  
She lay there on the cold stone floor unable to move for what seemed like ages. Looking up slowly she saw an ebony door and on it was the crest, the crest with an M encircled with white roses, but instead of the raven it had now a serpent and a lion in the corner. Slowly she got up to take a closer look. Without knowing it she had been running to the tower where Lucius' rose had taken her. Touching the lion and the serpent she expected the door to open, but it remained still and silent. She looked for a handle, but there was none, so she pushed the door but nothing happened.  
  
Sinking down to the floor she stared into open space, silently wondering what was happening to her. In a couple of hours she had become an emotional mess and shed more tears than she had done in years. Sighing, she shook her head, got up from the floor, and slowly started walking back to where the Great Hall was located. She was not hungry anymore but she knew she had to eat something.  
  
Dragging herself through the Great Hall, she knew she must look horrible with puffy red eyes and tangled hair. In a half-hearted gesture ,she tried to straighten out her hair and robes. She then took a deep breath and sat down in an empty seat beside Harry.  
  
"Where have you been Hermione? You missed..." he stopped halfway through his sentence when he saw how miserable and pale his friend looked. "What is the matter Hermione? Are you ill or something?" he questioned, trying to look her in the eyes.  
  
"I...I don't know," she sighed. "But can you tell Professor Sprout and Professor Binns that I don't feel well and therefore can not come to class?"  
  
Harry was stunned. Was Hermione Granger actually asking him to lie to the teachers to get her out of class? But if that's what she wanted, he would, of course, do it.  
  
"Of course I'll do that Hermione. But how are you really? You look very pale," Harry said, getting more and more worried about his friends who he had seen as her usual self in potions class. What made her change her mood so quickly?  
  
"Thank you Harry," she said with a weak smile and then left, taking a sandwich and an apple with her.  
  
Watching his friend Harry turned to Ron questioningly. "What do you think is wrong with her?" he asked.  
  
"I have no idea, I have never really understood her mood swings," Ron said through mouthful potatoes.  
  
"You and me both," Harry said shaking his head.  
  
When Harry, four hours later, knocked on Hermione's door, to ask her if she was coming to dinner, he received no answer; so he tried the door. It was open and he quietly stepped inside, his eyes searching on Hermione and his eyes fell on her where she sat by the window, staring at the grey sky outside, heavy with snow clouds. Beside her the food lay untouched.  
  
"Hermione," he said carefully Hermione jumped at Harry's voice. She had been sitting and staring out the window for hours.  
  
"Sorry to startle you. Are you coming to dinner?" he asked, walking up to her.  
  
"I don't know. I'm not that hungry," she said, again looking out the window.  
  
"That's nonsense 'Mione and you know it. You haven't touched any food since breakfast and you have to eat," Harry stated in a slightly stern, almost fatherly, voice.  
  
With a small smile, she nodded she stood and followed Harry to the door, straightening out her robes and hair on the way. When they arrived to the Great Hall, the dinner had already begun and the students were eagerly talking about the upcoming Hogsmeade visit as Hermione and Harry sat down with Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Ginny.  
  
"Hi guys" Hermione said, reaching for the bowl of rice. She gasped in surprise when a huge bouquet of at least fifty white roses suddenly appeared in front of her. Smelling the flowers, she smelled a familiar scent she knew from somewhere else. 'Lucius' her mind registered and ,holding her breath, she carefully removed the attached parchment. When she unfolded it, something fell down in her lap. In the folds of her robes a necklace lay. It was a small glass ball hanging on a thin gold chain. Inside it was a tiny white rose giving a faint glow as she touched the ball to pick it up. Amazed she recognized it as the rose Lucius Malfoy had left for her. With quivering hands, she unrolled the parchment.  
  
"Is it too late to touch you dear? We this moment knew Love marine, Love terrene, Love celestial too  
  
"Is it too late? Will you leave me not knowing? Will you leave me and not let me lay eyes on you again? Will you do that Hermione? Or will you let me see you, touch and feel you again?  
  
Let me know Hermione, and again put your trust in the rose. LM  
  
Hermione simply stared at the letter. His florid handwriting, forming her favorite poem by Emily Dickinson made her quiver slightly. How did he know? And more importantly, why did he do this? He could not love her, he just couldn't. Not after that short amount of time.  
  
'Yeah right, and you're really the one to say that. You gave him your heart long before you knew it,' a voice in her head snorted sarcastically. Shaking her head, she read the note again and was more confused than she had ever been before.  
  
How did this happen? How did she get in this mess? Looking down on the necklace she felt numerous different emotions come over her and she had suddenly lost her appetite.  
  
Feeling her friend's eyes on her, she looked up. "What?" she asked with a tone of slight annoyance.  
  
"We were just wondering who gave you those flowers and the gift along with them. It seems like there is something you haven't told us Mione." Ron winked with a grin.  
  
"It's none of your business who is sending me flowers or anything else for that matter!" she snapped angrily and quickly stood up, collecting the flowers and clutching the necklace and the parchment in her hand. Running through the Great Hall, she ignored Ron's pleadings to stop her. She did not see Draco as he blocked her way. So naturally, she ran straight into him with a loud 'thud'. Nether of them fell, but as they collided Hermione lost grip of the parchment and the necklace. Frightened, she watched Draco pick them up.  
  
"So Granger has a new admirer," he drawled, starting to unfold the parchment. "I would very much like to see who." With an evil smirk, he opened his mouth to read it, but before he could catch a look of anything but the first lines he felt something cold on his shoulder and looked up. Behind him his father was standing with the snake headed cane on his sons shoulder.  
  
"Now Draco, it's not very polite to read Miss Grangers mail unless she gives you permission to, is it not?" he said in calm yet cool voice that anyone knew was not to disobey.  
  
"But father...," Draco started, planning to tell his father that she was just a mudblood.  
  
"Be quiet Draco and give Miss Granger back what you took from her," Lucius said sternly, pressing the head of the snake harshly into his son's shoulder. With a small wince Draco let go of Hermione's things and then hurried away.  
  
Fearing the necklace had broken as it fell to the floor she quickly  
  
kneeled down and so did Lucius. Suddenly they were very close and Hermione felt her breath hitching in her throat.  
  
Carefully Lucius picked up the necklace and put it around Hermione's neck.  
  
"Don't worry, it's unbreakable, it's eternal," he whispered, helping her up. Clutching the roses and the parchment she looked at him. His face was now without any expression or emotion whatsoever.  
  
"I must leave now" he said in a low voice, then turned around, walking down the corridor with his black robes billowing behind him.  
  
Hermione lowered her head, sighing unhappily and began walking to the Gryffindor tower. How could a day take such a quick and strange turn?  
  
A/N: Ok, hope you liked it. I know the tone of the story has changed a bit and that Lucius may be a bit out of character, but it is necessary for the progress of the story. Please review =) LadyEvergreen 


	5. The gathering

A/N: Ok everyone, here is chapter 5! It's been long, I know but with summer holidays and such it takes a while before you get around updating. I'd like to thank Ekaterina Terzieva for beta reading this chapter!

Anyway, let's get on to the story.

**Chapter 5**

Hermione woke up as the first winter sunlight shone through her window. Glancing at the clock on the bedside table she saw that it wasn't more than 4:30, a very early hour even for Hermione Granger.  
It had been three days since she saw Lucius last. Where could he be?  
Sighing she rolled over to the left side of the bed, a part of her hoping to find him there, but of course there was no one there, just empty wrinkled sheets.  
She had now realized that it was no use denying that she did miss his presence, no use in denying that deeper emotions for him had been clouding her brain for several days.  
Yes, everything had gotten extremely complicated in almost no time at all. The question was how she was going to handle it.  
Should she pretend that nothing had ever happened between them and go on and with that risk a heart break? Or should she throw herself into a relationship, almost already doomed to fail with a huge chance of heart break and a tiny chance of being happy for a longer amount of time?  
  
It was a mess, everything was a mess. She was overloaded with homework's and her head girl duties which now included arranging a ball before the Holidays.  
How she was going to pull of everything in less than two weeks was a mystery.  
  
With a brain overloaded with thoughts and confusion Hermione realized that she wouldn't get anymore sleep and decided to first take a bath and then see if she could get something to eat.  
  
An hour later she stepped out of the tub, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body.  
On the bathroom door a large mirror was placed, which normally reflected the whole room but was now misted over because the heat and dampness in the room.  
  
Slowly she ran her hand across the mirror to get clear sight. The reflection staring back at her was somehow not what she had expected, but still so alike how she felt.  
Staring back at her was an 18 year old girl, damp chestnut colored curls almost reaching to her waist. Her body was slender, not thin but slender and enough curvy to earn appreciative looks from a number of males.  
The face was rather small with fine lines, soft rose-colored lips, cheeks slightly pink from the hot bath and expressive cinnamon brown eyes with long black lashes framing them.  
Her eyes, they had much to tell. Years of unshed tears and many laughs and many sorrows.  
Looking back at her life it had been quite a ride so far. Her parents had always held a great deal of expectations on everything she had done. Not that she had a bad childhood; they were fare decent parents who cared for her.  
The problem was that they had a hard time to show it. Sure, they were supportive in whatever choices she made but it had always felt like she wasn't doing well enough and her parents made no secret that this was exactly what they thought.  
That was partly why she kept pressing herself to do better every time. But why was she complaining anyway? She was lucky to have parents that showed at least a bit of appreciation.  
No, there was no use in lingering to the past, to dwell on things that had passed and did not matter anymore.  
  
With a final look at her reflection, Hermione left the bathroom, performing a spell to get her dry, but leaving her hair damp. It didn't get at all so frizzy if she let it dry by it self.  
Choosing a muggle outfit, which consisted with a knitted white turtle neck shirt, a pair of black plain pants, and a pair of black shoes with a rather thin high heel.  
Since it was Saturday they didn't need to wear the usual school robes.  
Giving her reflection a glance in another mirror she decided that she looked ok and went out to get something to eat.  
  
Since it was only a little more than 6 o'clock in the morning she didn't really expect anyone to be in the great hall but when she arrived there she found no one less than professor Snape sitting on his usual seat, sipping his coffee and reading The Daily Prophet.  
  
"Good Morning Professor Snape" she greeted politely as she sat down at the empty Gryffindor table and food instantly appeared in front of her.  
  
"Good morning Miss Granger" Severus said curtly, not at all keen to start a conversation with the girl.  
For some reason he felt that it was risky even talking to her after last nights gathering.  
Yes, last nights gathering had not been very pleasant. Not that it was any torture actions or such; the whole thing had just been plainly unpleasant.  
  
**Flashback**  
  
Severus arrived at the deserted mansion 11 o'clock in the evening, just in time for the gathering.  
  
"Ah Severus, my devoted servant. Punctual as usual." Lord Voldemort hissed hoarsely from where he was standing in the middle of the circle of the black hooded death eaters.  
  
"My Lord" Severus said with a voice full of false respect as he sunk down on all four to kiss Voldemorts robes.  
This was a tradition among death eaters and had been ever since the rise of Voldemort. So clearly was the dark lord a wizard depending on his servant's submission. Every time Severus did this he was close to nauseous, he hated Voldemort more than words could say, but he was devoted to the work he did for Dumbledore.  
  
Getting up from the floor he silently positioned himself between Lucius Malfoy and another high ranked death eater.  
  
"Welcome my devoted servants" Voldemort hissed hoarsely when all of the death eaters had arrived.  
"Today's gathering shall be interesting. I do hope that you have positive news for me."  
But the news from his followers was not of any important matter. Severus laid his usual 'invented' report about the state at the school.  
After some twenty minutes of reporting the Dark Lord stopped a death eater in the middle of a report.  
  
"It seems like nothing has happened so you may as well leave, all of you. Except for you Lucius" Voldemort hissed, directing his look at Lucius where he was standing beside Snape.  
  
With a curt nod Lucius remained as the others left the room.  
Severus though, wasn't going to leave. A private meeting between Lord Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy was something he wouldn't let goes unnoticed.  
Silently he positioned himself at the door so he could hear the conversation inside.  
He was surprised that the dark lord hadn't taken any more actions for the safety against spies on the manor.  
  
Behind the door Lucius was becoming nervous, but managed not to show it.  
Lucius Malfoy was normally not a man to be nervous about anything, but having Lord Voldemort in front of you, staring at you without saying a word could make anyone nervous.  
  
"Lucius" Voldemort finally said. "I see you failed to bring me what I wanted."  
  
"With all due respect my Lord, I did not fail" Lucius said, bowing slightly.  
  
"Well I do not see her here, so where is she?" the dark lord hissed angrily, gripping hold of the front of Lucius robes.  
  
"She was harder to 'persuade' than I thought my Lord, but I shall bring her to you as soon as I can" Lucius said in a slightly choked voice, for Voldemort was now gripping his collar tightly, almost strangling him.  
  
"I thought I told you what to do Lucius. Bring her to a secluded area and force her to make a choice. Either torture etc or come and stand in front of me."  
  
"That is what I intended to do my Lord, but she was to my surprise willing to do close to anything with her."  
  
"Then you should have refused her and then teached her a lesson. No one is playing with one of my allies without punishment".  
With this he threw Lucius across the room with such force that the blond wizard hit the wall and fell onto the floor.  
"Forgive me my Lord. I shall see to earn her trust and bring her to you, whatever it takes" he said as he raised from the floor, his head throbbing painfully from hitting the wall.  
  
"Good. I do not want to see you fail once more Lucius, than you shall payâ€Crucio"  
with a hoarse chuckle Voldemort left his servant wrenching in pain on the floor.  
  
Before Lord Voldemort came through the door, Severus had quickly apparated to a secluded alley in Hogsmeade.  
He had not heard very much from the conversation, because he did not dare to put a spell on the door in case he would be revealed.  
The only things he had heard were that Malfoy was supposed to bring Voldemort a woman. Who he was he did not know, but a nagging feeling told him that Miss Granger had something to do with this. He was no sure what, but there was something that did not seem right.  
Sighing he began to walk back to the castle as snow stared to fall, covering the ground with a soft powdery layer of snowflakes.  
  
Back at the mansion Lucius had managed to fight back the pain and slowly make his way outside.  
With his whole body throbbing in pain he silently cursed Voldemort and everything in this world. How was he ever going to be able to bring Miss Granger to the dark lord where she would be put through God knows what.  
He had been told that Voldemort wanted Miss Granger by his side to have a powerful allied to turn against Potter and his friend.  
Now Lucius knew he had to stop Voldemort from getting to Granger, even if it meant loosing his own life in the same time. Never had he cared for someone else's life in this way, cared enough to sacrifice his own life and he didn't even know why and how he had com to this.  
  
Completely exhausted Lucius managed to collect his last powers to apparate, unfortunately he did not know where.  
  
**End of flashback**  
  
Severus was torn from his thought by the sound of an owl bringing Miss Granger the daily prophet, which she read with great interest.  
'She has no idea what she has gotten herself into and unfortunately neither do I' Severus thought with a sigh and then left the great hall without a word, heading towards the dungeons.

Hermione followed professor Snape with her eyes. Something was wrong, she could sense it. Something was terribly wrong.

Suddenly she felt a stabbing pain in her abdomen. With a whine she held her hands over her stomach as she once again felt the pain, like someone was stabbing her with a knife.

She recognized this in some far of way, but she did not know from where.

A/N: That's all for now, let me know what you think and if I should continue.


	6. Eternally yours?

A/N: Hi everyone sneaks out from behind a tree. I'm back again with a new chapter, though it took a very long time.

I'm really really sorry about that, but I hade some issues with my computer and was about to loose the whole story, but I managed to save it.

So anyway, won't bore you for long with this. I just wanted to thank everyone that has commented on my story, it's been so helpful. Please keep on reviewing )

Lots and lots of hugs to my beta-reader Kate for all her help!

Well then, onto the story. And again, I'm so sorry for being so slow.

**Chapter 6. **

As a third wave of pain shot through her body a picture suddenly flashed in front of her half closed eyes.

What she saw scared her almost to death. In front of her was Lucius, as clear as if it was real life.

She saw him standing up with his whole body bent as if he was in deep pain.

As in trance she saw him trying to walk but he soon fell to the ground with a pained groan and in the very same moment Hermione once again felt pain fill her body until she was about to burst.

Despite all the pain all that went through her head was that she had to get to him, no matter what. Collecting all the concentration she could muster she tried to focus on the surroundings.

From what she could see he was in some kind of small alley, squeezed in between two medium sized buildings with uneven stone walls. The ground was covered in a thin layer of snow, except from the places where he had been lying where the ground was showing, stained with his blood.

On the wall of the house on the left side of the street a small sign was hanging. I seemed very old and the hooks on one side had loosened and it swayed slowly in the wind, creaking slightly as it moved.

Suddenly she recognized it. It was the sign to a tiny bookstore which lay in a small almost completely deserted alley in Hogsmeade.

Without warning the image of Lucius disappeared and Hermione snapped out of her trance like condition.

'What _was_ that?' she thought, feeling her hands shaking slightly at the memory of he pain and the image of Lucius wounded.

'It was a sign, a sign for bonding. When a witch or a wizard finds the reflection of their soul a certain bond is created. Therefore.." a tiny voice quoted as from a book.

'No that is just sentimental rubbish, there is no such thing as soul bonding' Hermione corrected, as if trying to convince herself.

It was not possible that she had met the reflection of her soul in Lucius Malfoy. Did that man even have a soul?

Pushing back her thoughts she tried to focus on what mattered, to find Lucius.

Her classmates weren't leaving for Hogsmeade until noon and she knew that she could not wait that long. Neither did she felt like she had the time to sneak up to the dormitories to 'borrow' Harry's map and invisibility cloak.

'I must do this in some other way' she reasoned as she left the great hall and went out in the corridor.

Every secret passage she knew was guarded by various creatures that Filch had placed there, and she had no desire to study them closer. Polyjuice potion was also out of question, since it took a month to brew.

Then it hit her, animagus. This year McGonagall had agreed to teach her how to become an animagus. Hermione had not yet gotten her form decided, but was for the moment able to transfigure herself into a small bird. She suspected that her form would remain a bird, but maybe change in to some bigger specie than a sparrow.

Becoming an animagus was very advanced magic but both McGonagall and Dumbledor had agreed that she could do it.

This was the perfect opportunity to practice what she had learned. She knew she could not stay in her form for a long time but it should be safe to fly to Hogsmeade without being transfigured back, fall down and die.

Concentrating deeply she felt the tingling feeling spread through her body, starting at her feet.

Soon she had transfigured completely and made herself ready to fly.

She knew a window was open in the Great Hall so she flew in there and out.

The air was chilly and small snowflakes fell to the ground from the still dark sky.

Hermione knew she had to fly very fast to make the trip to the village.

Just as she saw the houses in the outskirts of the small village she once again felt the tingling feeling. She knew she had to find somewhere soft to land and that quickly, if she didn't want to kill herself.

Outside a small red house there was a big bush, still having the leafs left and Hermione decide that it was there she was going to land.

With a loud thud and some cracking coming from the bush she landed heavily in the bush. As quickly as she could she crawled out of it and hurried away before someone saw her.

Now all she had to do was to get to Lucius.

Running down the street she passed some wizards obviously leaving for work and two younger witches who looked like they just got home from a night out.

The alley with the bookstore lay close to Zonkos and Hogsmeade was not a big village so she reached the place in question in less than five minutes.

Out of breath from running Hermione stopped at the beginning of the alley, her eyes searching for Lucius. She knew he 'vision' had been telling the truth since she could see the bloodstains on the ground, but Malfoy himself were nowhere to be seen.

Quietly she began searching the alley, but without any result. Where was he? He had to be somewhere.

"Lucius?" she spoke quietly "Lucius, where are you?"

Nothing but her own breaths were heard and she was about to give up hope after searching the alley twice when she suddenly heard a small noise coming from behind the house which held the bookstore.

Hurrying towards the source of the sound she found Lucius half sitting, half lying on the ground leaning on the wall. Above him a streetlamp was casting its faint light, making him look even more pale than usual.

She saw that his expensive robes where drenched in blood by his abdomen. Rushing to his side she sank to her knees.

"Lucius, how are you, what happened?" she as asked softly, concern showing in both her voice and in her eyes.

With great difficulty Lucius opened his eyes and looked up at Hermione.

"Hermione.. You must go. Leave, it is to risky." He whispered hoarsely and tried to push her away and get up.

"Oh no, I am not going anywhere before I have helped you"

"Please don't. Just leave.." But before he could finish she had put an arm around his waist, pulling him up with her.

"Now I am going to take you to the hospital wing. Do you think you can manage to walk?"

"Miss Granger, I am not going to the hospital wing, end of story. Just leave me here to sort this out and get back to my mansion" He said, trying to use his usual superior sneer, but didn't quite succeed.

Her heart stung when she heard him call her not by her given name. So it was this much he cared, she thought bitterly, but managed to keep a straight face as she spoke up.

"Ok, fine, no hospital wing. But you won't be able to apparate anywhere without loosing way to much blood, so just let me perform a healing spell and put something on your wound." Hermione said, knowing that arguing with him would be a waste of time.

Lucius gave her a suspicious look but decided to go along with her idea before he bled to death.

"Fine" he muttered, wondering whatever had happened to his ability to persuade people.

"Good, but you must get inside, it's way to cold out here, and before you object; I will not take you to Hogwarts" Hermione said sternly, helping him to his feet.

"How nice of you Miss Granger" He drawled, but it lost its touch when he winced in pain, almost falling to the ground, pulling Hermione with him.

Before they both fell she managed to support his full weight on her shoulder and pulled him to his feet.

"Well I have my moments" Hermione said dryly. "And do be quiet; talk will only lessen your strength. I'm taking you to some friends who live nearby, Mr and Mrs Figglesworth" she continued as the slowly crossed the street.

Across the street they stood in front of a rather small house with a blue door, decorated with a Christmas decoration.

The house reminded very much of those on can see in a fairytale, being the home of the seven dwarves or the wizard of the good side.

In this particular house Mr Rodney Figglesworth lived with his wife Sonia. Hermione had made their acquaintance a few months before, when she first visited the store they owned.

Softly she knocked on the, hoping the couple would be awake.

Soon the door was opened by a small wizard dressed in a green bathrobe and grey slippers, puffing on a long worn out pipe.

Mr Rodney Figglesworth was a kind looking man in his mid-seventies and had a huge mass of snow white hair which always had reminded Hermione of the muggles cotton candy.

Matching with the hair was a rather untrimmed moustache, equally snow white. Through circular glasses his bright blue eyes were twinkling merrily. He actually reminded slightly of a very small, lightly corpulent Albus Dumbledor.

"Ah, good morning Miss Granger, what can I.." Mr Figglesworth greeted them, but never quite finished his sentence as he saw their condition.

Hermione could feel him studying her face worridly and she knew both her and Lucius must look a mess. With her right arm she was still supporting Lucius and her left was holding her belly which was still hurting.

Mr Figglesworth looked over at the wizard his young friend was supporting. He seemed to be around 40 years old give or take and seemed very wealthy, wearing obviously highly expensive black robes, though heavily bloodstained.

Also the snake shaped clasps holding the torn cloak was stained with blood and disturbed the air of power.

The elder wizard recognized him from somewhere, but couldn't quite place him. One hand was clutching a heavily bleeding wound on his abdomen and he other was around the young witch for support.

Finally the elder wizard stopped studying them and quickly stepped out of the way to invite them in.

Hermione smiled gratefully and they carefully stepped inside.

"Miss Granger, what has happened?" Mr Figglesworth asked worriedly as he quickly took care of their robes.

"I honestly don't know Mr Figglesworth, but we are in the need of a warm and dry place. I only need to perform a healing spell and wrap his wound and then we will be away" Hermione said, hoping that the elder man would settle with that amount of information.

To her relief he did not ask anything more, but she could see he was wondering.

With a smile he gestured for them to settle in living room and left to get towels, wraps and hot water.

The room was small and suited it's owner perfectly. A fireplace cast a warm glow over the room, furnished with a comfortable group of sofas and armchairs, a coffee table, a small bookshelf and a cabinet with glass doors holding a collection of blue and white porcelain.

As quickly as they both could manage, Hermione led Lucius over to the couch, placed in front of the fireplace and softly ordered him to lie down.

After only a few moments Mr Figglesworth came hurrying from the kitchen with a bowl of water in one hand and wrappings and fluffy white towels in the other.

"Here you are Miss Granger. Are you quite sure that I shouldn't send a word for a healer ?" he asked, placing the things he'd been carrying beside Hermione on the floor.

"No thank you, Mr Figglesworth, it will be fine this way"

"Well then, is there anything else I can get you?

Hermione politely declined and Mr Figgleswiorth left to make breakfast for his still sleeping wife.

In silence she carefully started to unbutton his vest and then his shirt to get better access to the wound.

"You take things more slowly this morning, Hermione" he muttered drowsily, but hissed in pain as her finger touched the location of his wound.

"I'm sorry" she said quietly and pushed apart the clothing. She had found it wisest to not acknowledge his comment.

The wound was not very deep, but was still bleeding rather heavily. It was a diagonal cut across the left side of his abdomen, about 4 inches long.

With great care she began to dab the area around the wound with a damp towel, which soon was deep red with blood.

Taking the potion against infection that she had summoned she poured some on the corner of another towel.

"Now this will sting a little bit, but try to be still" she whispered soothingly as she bad the wound with the potion.

He jumped a bit at the stinging feeling but clenched his teeth and remained still.

Watching her through half closed eyes, he saw her take her wand from her pocket and place it just above the wound and she begun to mumble.

The words sounded like Latin and as she spoke he felt soothing warmth spread through his body, the pain slowly fading away.

This same soothing feeling spread through Hermiones body and she slowly begun to relax, focusing on the task.

When she had finished the spell, the wound had actually stopped bleeding altogether and the edges were clean.

She laid a compress on the cut and turned to face him.

"Mr Malfoy, do you think you can manage to sit up, so I can wrap your wound properly?" she asked

In return she received a raised eyebrow, his voice slightly mocking.

"So it is Mr Malfoy now is it? I thought we were more, lets say, intimate that that Hermione"

Slowly she helped him to sit up on the couch.

"I don't know what I am to you and how much you care.

I do not want, nor do I dare to give my heart up until I know exactly where I stand and what we have" she said without looking at him, while she pushed the vest and the shirt off his shoulders to get better access to the wound

She did not notice the blond wizards' lips silently forming the words: "You are not the only one to be unsure about this Hermione".

As his shirt fell onto the sofa, Hermione discreetly scanned his body.

There was no use in denying that he was in a very good shape for a man in his age, very good shape indeed.

' He is not that old' Hermione quickly scolded herself .

His nicely toned torso and hints of a very well worked out abdomen was enough to make any sane woman stare and drool and Hermione was no exception. She found it very hard to concentrate on the wrapping of the wound.

Lucius noticed this and gave her a very smug look as she looked up at him.

Blushing, she quickly returned her concentration to the wrapping, but the fact that she had to lean into him every time so she could reach behind his back did no good for her concentration.

In an effort to break the tension building up, she asked him what had happened.

His lips became a thin line and the look in is eyes became icy and hard.

"Crutious curse and an unfortunate meeting with someone hired to tell me I hadn't done my job properly"

With anger he remembered the death eater who had followed him and had managed to slice across his abdomen with some kind of long, thin very sharp sword.

Without a doubt this was orders from the dark lord, sending a death eater after him, but what he wasn't sure of was if the orders were to kill him or just make him aware of that following orders were best for his health.

Lucius wondered if Voldemort had sensed his doubts about the assignment he had been given. If so he knew that he was in a rather dangerous position, no one disobeyed Voldemort without having to pay, most likely with life.

Pushing the thoughts away he looked down at Hermione, watching her wrap his wound with great care and gentleness.

She was a very talented girl in many areas and her intellect reached high above most of those in her age.

When he met her for the first time in that bookstore he knew she was something special.

Seemingly untouched by his hard words about her heritage she stood up to him. The only thing she did was giving him a look that she didn't considering him worthy the trouble to get mad at.

Most people of his rank would probably have considered this rude and lack of respect, but he was more amused and impressed than offended.

This young muggleborn witch had proved herself to be more courageous and intelligent than any pureblood witches and wizards he knew. He was fully aware that she was both more mature and more intelligent than his own son.

Remembering the time Draco had told him that the "mudblood Granger" had punched him in the face in the third year he let out a snort with laughter.

Hermione quickly lifted her head hearing the sound.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked worriedly.

"No, no you didn't hurt me. I just remembered you 'encounter' with my son four years ago. Rather amusing I dare say." He said with a smirk as he brushed a lock of hair from her face.

Unwillingly Hermione closed her eyes in pleasure as his fingers graced across her cheek. It wasn't until this moment she realized just how empty she had felt without his touch and that she had actually missed the self satisfied smirk as it graced his features.

She had never seen him really smiling or laughing but the superior smirk suited him well.

As she felt his hands travel up her back and around her neck, pulling her towards him she tried to resist, muttering something about that she should finish up the wrapping.

Her body had its own idea about that though, and as she spoke she also stood up from the floor and let him pull her onto his lap. Her hands, also having a mind of their own, travelled across his muscular chest and the up his shoulder and neck and ending up in his platinum blond hair, flawless and silky as ever.

For a moment her eyes fluttered open and she met the grey orbs of Lucius Malfoy, gazing at her with a look she couldn't quite place. It could have been pure desire, but something made her think that was not all. She hardly dared to consider if it was care, or even maybe love?

Before she had the time to scold herself for thinking something so stupid, her head was cleared from every rational thought ever existing in her head as he brought her lips to meet his.

The only thing left inside Hermiones body at that moment was a warm fussy feeling, something she felt every time he touched her.

She was now straddling his lap and towels and wraps lay forgotten on the floor.

His hands travelled along her back, pulling her almost impossibly close. Pressed up against his bare torso she was high in heaven and nothing else mattered. As she was close to him it felt like something inside her healed something she never new had been broken.

In the heat of the moment both of them forgot completely where they were and Lucius hands found the edge of her sweater and began to pull it of as he kissed his way down her jaw and neck.

Hermione inhaled sharply as his teeth nipped rather harshly on her neck, leaving a clearly visible mark. Though telling that she didn't enjoy it would be the biggest lie of a lifetime.

His hands had now found their way beneath her sweater and her skin was burning under his touch.

As Lucius was to pull the shirt over her head a high pitched squeal cut through the air and broke them apart.

"Tea kettle" Hermione murmured, leaning her forehead against Lucius'

"Ignore it" He said, trying to once again pull her close, but she put her hand on his chest and stopped him.

"Wrong time and wrong place Lucius. I need to finish the wrapping now" She said, getting ready to wriggle out of his arms, regretting deeply that she couldn't stay there.

But this man was after all Lucius Malfoy and didn't really listen to anyone, and soon Hermione found herself back in his lap, his soft lips and blunt teeth caressing the nape of her neck and she was dangerously close to give into him again.

Suddenly someone cleared their throat and Hermione literally jumped away from Lucius.

Her cheeks flaming she didn't dare to look at either Malfoy or Mr Figglesworth who was standing in the doorway.

The later was clearly amused and was barely able to hide it as he spoke.

"A, very sorry to interrupt, but I was to ask you if you both would like some tea?"

"Uh, no thank you Mr Figglesworth. We'll be fine" Hermione said rather inaudible, still not looking up.

"Pardon Miss Granger?" Mr Figglesworth said, not exactly famous for having a good hearing.

Before she could stutter out an answer Lucius politely declined the offer and Mr Figglesworth left the room.

Glaring up at him she saw slight amusement play in his grey eyes, the corners of his mouth twisting slightly.

"What? Don't look so chirpy, it is not funny!" she snapped, scowling at him.

This did not have the desired effect, for he let out a low chuckle, pulling her towards him again, setting her in his lap.

Stubbornly Hermione crossed her arms over her chest; she was not determinate to not give him the triumph to win this.

She shot him a nasty glare, she didn't like when her behaviour amused people, though the glare disappeared as soon as she met his gaze.

His eyes didn't hold the amused expression anymore. They were now serious and as unreadable as always. She was just about to question him when he spoke.

"You need to be careful, my pet. Do not trust anyone. It is a dangerous world for everyone these days, but even more dangerous for you" He said as he carefully ran his fingers across her cheek.

His voice held a tone she had never heard him use before, low, sincere and caring.

Who was this man? The closer she got to him, the less she understood.

Was this behaviour a mere charade that he turned to every once in a while when he saw it fit?

It seemed like he most of the time was the same insufferable bastard he had always been known to be, but then he said things like this that completely threw her of track in her conception about him.

"Why do you have to do this to me Lucius?" She sighed, shaking her head.

"Why do you have to change every time I look at you? Can't you let me know what to believe instead of confusing me all the time?" She said dejectedly, hiding her face in her hands.

She heard him breathe in to answer, but interrupted him.

"I am serious Lucius. If I am merely a toy for you to play with while you are here I have to no that, because that is something I do not deserve!" She said, raising her voice as she spoke.

All the questions and confusion that had built up during the last days was now bubbling to the surface, somewhere transferring to anger.

He reached up to touch her face, but she turned away and drew up from his lap , ignoring the dizziness coming over her as they lost body contact.

Staring into the fireplace with her back to him she awaited his answer.

After a long silence he spoke.

"What if you were?"

The words were like an icy stake through her heart. With her mind spinning in confusion and fury she slowly turned to him.

"You bastard! You manipulative egoistic bastard!" She screamed, fury filling every inch of her body.

How did he dare? How dared he to treat her like that?

"Hermione, before you…" he began, but didn't have the time to say anything more before he felt a burning pain on the left side of his face.

"Seems like I have to make it a habit to slap the Malfoy men in the face" She spat coldly and surveyed him with a look filled with despise and disappointment..

Carefully he moved his sore jaw, his cheek beginning to take on a fierce red colour. He opened his mouth to speak, but was once again interrupted.

" Not . a .word, not a single word. Don't try to excuse your poor behaviour Mr Malfoy. Leave, Now!" Her voice was as set in stone, but inside she was confused, scared and hurt.

How could she be so stupid to actually believe that she would mean anything to him? Everything this man did was a game, a game in which none other than him got out as a winner. But one thing she would never give him was the victory in seeing that he had hurt her deeply with his words. Anger she had no problem in showing, but other emotions was a different matter since she over the years had realized that she did best in hiding her emotions.

When she spoke up again she tried so hard to keep her voice steady and firm, but it came out as whisper.

"I guess you never know what to believe, people will always be manipulative."

If she had taken time to study his features she would have seen the brief expression of sadness and regret crossing them.

"Hermione, I wish you would listen to me", and with those words he was gone.

Slowly she walked over to the fireplace, staring into the flames. As she watched them her head began to spin and her vision went all blur. She felt drained, like something had sucked the life out of her. Trying to steady herself she gripped hold of the back of a nearby chair, but she couldn't hold her own weight and ungracefully she slumped to the floor.

Her body had gone numb and she felt like everything that was left of her was a drained empty shell. Hermione tried to focus her eyes on something to remain consciousness but failed miserably. Soon her surroundings began to swam and then all went black.

The last thing she heard before passing out was Mr Figglesworth calling her name, trying to shake her to life.

Slowly Hermione opened her eyes, only to close them quickly as bright sunlight shone in from a nearby window.

"Where am I" she murmured and tried to clear her foggy mind and remember what had happened. But yet how much she tried all she could remember were four words: "What if you were".

Hot tears burned behind her eyelids as the memories slowly began to return.

As the memories became more and more clear her heart stung. How could he do that? Did he like making people suffer?

Well, that was most likely the truth but she didn't want to acknowledge it. She had fallen for him, it was her fault that he had stolen her heart with is dark powerful charm.

Foolish as she was she had believed that she could handle the situation and that she wouldn't end up getting hurt and maybe, just maybe he would feel something for her.

'I should have known I would be hurt. How could I possibly imagine that I could get out of a thing like this unspoiled? How could I possibly think that he, a man like Lucius Malfoy could have feeling for me, a muggleborn?'

Slowly a tear slipped down her cheek and reached her dry lips and she could taste the salt on them. It reminded her of the ocean she used to look at with wonder as a child; the beautiful, powerful and secretive but yet so treacherous, it reminded her of him.

Slowly she pushed the thoughts away and opened her eyes and looked around. Clearly she had somehow gotten to the hospital wing of Hogwarts.

Everything, sheets and walls were brightly white and as she scanned the room her eyes found the bedside table. On top of it a necklace was placed together with her wand and her other belongings. Mechanically her hand reached for the necklace with the chain carrying a small glass ball.

She remembered that it used to hold slight warmth whenever touched, but that was gone. Instead it was cold as ice.

Carefully she brought it closer to look at it, and what she saw amazed her. The tiny white rose did not hold the faint warm glow anymore; it was now frozen, covered in ice crystals sparkling in the winter sun shining through the window.

For some reason she just couldn't make herself look away from the small jewellery Lucius Malfoy had given her, even though it hurt badly to just look at it she couldn't help but being transfixed by the sight of the icy cold rose.

Suddenly there was a small swirl from the centre of the rose and mist began to form in the ball of glass. As the mist slowly cleared small images began to form, just large enough to be seen with the naked eye. It was images from when she first met Lucius in the library, swift ones of their night together, from the potions classroom and from the last time they met in Mr Figglesworth's living room.

Fresh tears began to form in her eyes as the image ones again changed. What now showed was the image of Lucius standing in front of a large window, staring at the snow outside.

She barely had the time to study it before it faded and letters began to form. One by one they formed the words "atearno ista". Quietly repeating the words to herself, hermione guessed it had to be some sort of Latin. Knowing a bit Latin she recognized it from somewhere.

"Atearno ista" she whispered and suddenly she understood.

It was the title of an ancient love prophecy, in English called "Eternally yours"

She remembered it going something like:

"Voices of wisdom, voices of old

one rose and one rose alone shall the mystery of life unfold.

It begins with ice and ends with fire,

giving the angel its one true desire.

She from heaven sent,

From the fires of hell he went.

Together they tell the story of heaven and hell

One they both know far too well.

In love none of them believe,

But the end will something else reveal.

The angel and devil thrown together with unnatural force,

Will love each other, 'til the end of time whispering 'Eternally yours'. "

Blinking in disbelief she stared at the necklace where the letters were long gone and once again replaced with the icy rose.

Then finally, like someone had pulled a string the tears broke free.

"Liar"… "You damned LIAR!!" Hermione screamed and threw the necklace across the room.

The anger once filling her voice was replaced with agony and her whole body shook with desperate sobs as she collapsed onto her side in the pillows, curling up like a wounded child.

Hermione didn't notice Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore entering the hospital wing.

Albus looked at the girl lying in the hospital bed. She didn't deserve this, how could anyone deserve it?

Hermiones emotions were a storm. Her tears refused to stop falling and no matter how she tried she couldn't keep the image of Lucius away.

She knew very well he wasn't worth her tears, but still she couldn't forget about how they had shared his pain, the poem with the roses, the necklace.

Oh yes, the necklace. The little piece of jewellery scared her, she had no idea what kind of power it might contain.

"Miss Granger?" Hermione was torn from her world by the soothing voice of the headmaster.

With a huge effort she managed to swallow most of the tears and brushed her hand over her wet cheeks.

"Hello headmaster, hello professor." She croaked out in a slightly choked voice.

"Good day, Miss Granger. We are happy to see that you are awake" Professor Mc Gonagall said, taking a seat beside Hermiones bed. Hermione could see that her teacher tried to act the same but she could see that Mc Gonagall wasn't at all comfortable with the situation.

Choosing not to worry about Mc Gonagall she turned to the headmaster to ask the at the moment most important question.

"Headmaster, why am I here?"

Albus regarded her for a moment and then spoke.

" A part of the story I was hoping you could tell me, but I will tell you what I know.

You were brought here by a very worried Mr Figglesworth who said that you had collapsed on the floor in his living room, but he was very reculant to tell me what had happened that morning."

Hermione was about to ask exactly how much Mr Figglesworth had said, but the headmaster held up his hand to silence her.

"As I said, he was recullant to talk about it and I didn't press the issue, but when I went to see him I found this" he said and held up a white piece of clothing, heavily stained with blood and Hermione almost choked. It was Lucius shirt.

"It seems like something happened and you and someone else ended up hurt , Miss Granger" he said, regarding her reaction to the piece of clothing.

Hermione didn't say anything; instead Professor Mc Gonagall spoke up.

"Miss Granger, when you were brought here you had blood all over your clothes and suffered from serious loss of blood. Still there was no trace of either a wound or a healing spell, except for the one you seemed to have used your wand for. A rather complicated one I might add, one used to heal heavily bleeding wounds."

Hermione felt the professors questioning look, but she had no idea what to say.

She couldn't possibly tell them she had an affair with Lucius Malfoy and that she had saved his life, just to be told he had been using her.

"Miss Granger? Do you have any idea what can have caused to be harmed?" Professor Mc Gonagall asked sharply. She seemed impatient.

Hermione remained silent. 'I can't tell them the truth, which means I have to lie, but if I do they will without a doubt notice that'.

Tiredly she ran her hand trough her hair, witch had gotten frizzy beyond description. Everything was a mess, whether she admitted it or not she had been burned badly by Lucius words and it was probably his fault that she had ended up here.

"Minerva, dear, it seems like she doesn't know anything." Dumbledore said kindly. "If I am not mistaking you have a class to take care of" he continued, smiling to hi colleague.

Hermione smiled slightly. She knew Professor Mc Gonagall never would refuse an Order from Dumbledore, no matter how much she disliked it.

"Very well Albus, I do. I sincerely hope that we soon will see you well, Miss Granger" Mc Gonagall said, her voice slightly edgy, trying to sound polite.

When the professor had left, Hermione carefully looked up at Dumbledores' calm, kind face.

He knew, that she was almost sure of, but the question was how. Who had told him? Nobody but Ginny and Figglesworth knew about her and Lucius.

The headmaster was clearly waiting for her to speak, so she cleared her throat and quietly said:

"You know, don't you sir?"

"Yes I do Hermione, most of it at least" he said, his blue eyes regarding her calmly.

"But how sir? Did anyone tell you?"

"Oh no, nobody told me anything. I'm just quite good at putting two and two together. There is always small leads, such as the white roses and the necklace you just threw across the room" he said, actually sounding slightly amused.

She should have known that no one had told Dumbledor anything, he just knew. But why wasn't he mad? Really, one should be mad if a seventeen years old student is having an affair with their mortal enemies most faithful servant. Right?

"Miss Granger, I am sure that you somewhere inside know what has happened and why it has." He said looking straight at her.

Hermione didn't understand, how could she knew why something had happened when she wasn't even sure what had happened.

All she had figured out was that it was some kind of soul bonding spell that had lead her to Lucius and that the name of an old love prophesy had turned up in her necklace and….

Then it dawned to her. She had for a moment thought of it as odd that Lucius hadn't been in worse condition than he was because of the loss of blood, but hadn't really given it much thought.

Now she understood that the reason that he lived was that she had taken most of the damage. She had given him her blood, almost her life.

"You understand, don't you Miss Granger?" Professor Dumbledore said seriously as he saw her face change.

Hermione nodded numbly. She understood what had happened, but why she was not that sure of.

"I do, but why headmaster? It is not possible that he is ..." she couldn't bring herself to say those last words.

"the reflection of your soul?" Dumbledore offered.

Hermione stared at him. So he knew. If Dumbledore said so, then…

'No, no, no!!' her mind screamed. 'It is not possible!'

Slowly she opened her mouth to state her doubts to the headmaster.

"It can't be" she whispered. "It's not possible that he is the reflection of my soul. He has not a soul no more than he has a heart". Hermione said bitterly and quickly ran her hand across her cheek to hide her tears.

How could she end up in this mess? She had always been "the good kid".

'Well, no more of that' she thought and her lips crooked in a wry smile. This was all Lucius Malfoys fault. Quicker than both of them had realized something had happened, something that wouldn't get erased so easily.

But now she knew the truth of course, a truth she knew had been there all along. He didn't want her, but what was there to expect? A man like him, he had no trace of honesty in his body. Though she had never allowed him to finish what he had to say, so how could she really know…?

'Oh no little miss, don't go there. You know that it wouldn't have mattered anyway. He does not deserve you' a sensible little voice argued.

The headmasters' words cut through her thoughts before she had the time to consider the statement.

"Miss Granger, everyone has a heart and a soul. Some of us are just having a lot of trouble to let them be seen by other people."

Here Dumbledore fell quiet and studied the young woman before him closely. She was so strong in many ways, but how long would her protection shield hold for this? Always she had stood side by side with her friends, helping them through everything. Without even shedding so much as a tear.

So when would her time come? Very soon it seemed like, and then she would need her friends more than ever. He just hoped that Harry and Ron would understand that.

As he spoke again Hermione was pulled from he own thoughts once again.

"I do not know the full details of this evening and I do not think I should either. What I do know is that you should the warning that was given to you very seriously. Otherwise you might find yourself in very grave danger."

"But headmaster, how did you…?"

"Sometimes one just knows Miss Granger, just be careful." He said and smiled somewhat playfully.

Hermione realized there was no point in asking, this was after all Albus Dumbledore she was dealing with. At that moment he seemed think that there was no need to say more and with a smile he abruptly changed the subject. She doubted that she ever would understand Albus Dumbledore.

"I assume you remember the pre-Holiday ball you were assigned to plan Miss Granger?"

"Yes I do sir and I will start working as soon as I get out of here."

"I have no doubt you would, but since it is in 3 days I believe that you will have a hard time to plan it all." Dumbledore said with a small smile.

"3 days?!" Hermione shrieked. "That means I have been knocked out for five days!"

"Yes, and therefore I have allowed a very capable person handle most of the work. All you have to do is look over the details. And before you get suspicious, the person I have put on the task is miss Weasly. I believe she will be here after lunch. " Dumbledore said with a smile and then fell silent.

"Well then, I shall be off. Please remember what I said Miss Granger, you need to be careful.

Good day." And with a last look at her he left the hospital with the blue robe bellowing softly behind him.

As promised by Dumbledore, Ginny arrived just after lunch and Hermione welcomed her with a thankful smile. Company was much appreciated after spending hours alone with thoughts not answering her questions, only creating more of them.

Returning the smile Ginny stepped into the room and walked towards Hermiones bed. Halfway she stopped and picked up something from the floor, the necklace.

"That bad, huh?" she asked, looking sympathetically at Hermione.

"I don't want to talk about it" Hermione said, turning her face away, staring into the wall. The last thing she needed was to go over those incidents again.

"Ok, I understand. Let's move on to the ball then, shall we?" Ginny said with a smile and picked up a full written parchment and a blue quill from her bag.

This was why Hermione loved Ginny so much. She was the most understanding person on the planet, and she knew exactly when to not ask anymore, which was a quite nice change from Ron and Harrys sometimes blunt questions.

Hermione sat up in the bed, resting her back against the pillows.

"So how much have you planned?" she asked and turned her attention to Ginny and her parchment.

"Well, most of the big stuff, like what kind of drinks to serve, what kind of music we should use and most of the decorations. I think it turned out good, but I wanted you to see it before anything is decided"

"I'm sure everything is great, Gin. I have one idea that I have been considering for a while though…"

"What?"

"That maybe we should have like a theme or something. I mean, Hogwarts has been having traditional balls for centuries and it would be fun with something new."

"That's true, haven't thought of that actually. What did you have in mind?" Ginny asked.

"Well, my first thought was a Christmas ball, but somehow that also seems too traditional. What do you think about a winter theme? We could have white decorations, the floor enchanted to look like ice…"

"That's Great 'Mione! All we have to do is change the colours of the decorations and perform some spells, that's easily done. Maybe we should add to the effect even more, like using a dress code or something?"

"That would be nice. Maybe we should not make everyone wear only white, just something to symbolize winter."

"Yeah that's good, we'll write that down." Ginny said and dictated to the enchanted quill, which began to move across the parchment.

"I like your quill, its very Rita Skeeter" Hermione said with a small laugh.

"Thank you, it's very useful. I actually got the spell from one of her articles, though I removed the part of it used for adding to the truth" Ginny said with a quirked smile.

Hermione was relieved that Ginny hadn't been asking anything about Lucius, and she relaxed and engaged herself into the planning, which took the rest of the afternoon.

At 5'o clock they had finished the invitations that they would put up in every common room. Hermione snatched the parchment from the bedside table and read it out loud.

"The 23:d of December Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry will host a winterball.

All students on the school are expected to attend if there are no preventions.

The ball will start at 6 o'clock in the evening and continue 'til around midnight.

The dress code that is expected that you will follow is that everyone has to wear something white. This however, does not have to be a complete attire.

We wish you all most welcome.

Best wishes The ball comity

Ginny nodded approvingly.

"Sounds great. I'll take it to McGonagall so she can approve it, but I doubt she will have anything to complain about. All signs are pointed towards a successful evening." Ginny said as she put her things back in her bag.

"Good, I'm sure everything will be fine. Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it you know." Hermione said sincerely to her friend as Ginny bent down and gave her a warm hug.

"Don't mention it, it was fun. No all I have to do is to pick a dress that will blow Dracos mind away" she said with a devilish smile tugging her lips.

"Ah, so I take it he has asked you to be his date then?"

"Yep, he asked me yesterday after dinner."

Ginny's happiness was obvious and Hermione couldn't help but smiling.

'Let's just hope its not like father like son' she thought bitterly, but made sure that her feelings weren't showing.

"Well I won't keep you any longer, and besides you probably need to get started on the dress." Hermione said, careful not to sound like she wanted to get rid of Ginny. In all honesty, though, she really wanted to be alone, but she didn't want to hurt her friend.

Ginny, however, didn't seem to notice anything and gave Hermione one more hug before leaving the room. But before closing the door she stuck her head back in.

"Oh and by the way, Ron and Harry says hi. They wanted to come, but they had way too much homework."

"Ok, send them my love, will you and I will see you all as soon as I get out of here."

"Sure. Get some rest now and I'll see you later" and with a wave Ginny disappeared, shutting the door behind her.

Hermione remained still and stared into the opposite wall. Outside the snow had begun to fall once again, making the soft white layer on the ground thicker and heavier.

An absent memory from her first years at Hogwarts ran through Hermiones head. It was her, Harry, Ron and Neville laughing and throwing snow at each other just by the lakeside. The whole game had ended in Neville falling through the ice of the lake and had to spend a week in the hospital wing because of a severe cold.

Hermione smiled softly. How different everything was now. As they had grown older they had also grown apart. Not that they were not spending time together, it was just different now.

'No doubt thing would be way more different if thy found out about what I did' she thought. It was no doubt that Harry and Ron wouldn't be as understanding as Ginny. But of course, Ginny was in love with a Malfoy herself so…

'Wait a minute, I'm not in love. No way, I'm not in love with Lucius Malfoy. Sure, maybe I kind of liked him, but after… I don't deserve to be treated like that. He is not worth my time. End of story.' And yet again, the oh-so-sensible voice was back, preaching her feminist views on life.

At the same time another part of her was screaming aloud that it wasn't that easy. She had felt something special when they were close, and then it was her response to Lucius being in trouble.

Hermione very well knew that if he tried hard enough she would be putty in his hands once again. His power over her body and mind was almost scary.

'And I thought my life was boring and predictable' she thought ironically.

After all this there was no way in telling what would happen next. Especially at the ball. Yes, the ball, a very interesting subject... However she was not sure if she actually had the desire to attend it at all.

The End... of chapter 6.

A/N: That was quite a long one. And about the name of the prophesy… My Latin sucks, so I have no idea if that's anywhere near correct.

So anyway, review please )


	7. Dancer in the dark

**A/N:**

**Hi everyone!**

**I am so, so sorry for not updating earlier. What I have to blame is a computer failure and the loss of a beta-reader. Both problems are now solved thanks to sheer luck and my current beta reader Emma (cookies for you).**

**Thanks to all of you reviewing my story, it keeps me going.**

**Anyways, on to the story. Enjoy!**

**/LE**

Chapter 7

It was the day with the big D, or at least that was what most of Hogwarts students thought. The Winter Ball was in less than ten hours and the school was filled with the scents of various kinds of perfumes, beautifying potions and miraculous 'make your hair shine' shampoos.

Since it was Saturday no classes were keeping the students from obsessing about the upcoming event, and particularly one red-haired Gryffindor was obsessing very much.

Eleven o' clock in the morning Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room with Harry and Ron supporting her. Madam Pomfrey had reluctantly let her go after being pleaded by Harry and Ron for almost half an hour. Hermione had personally not protested much when the medi-witch tried to keep her in bed since it was the perfect excuse to not have to go to the ball. But for some reason Madam Pomfrey softened and allowed her to leave the hospital wing with the promise that she would come back if she didn't feel well.

Before they entered through the portrait hole Ron turned to face her, "Prepare to be attacked."

"Attacked?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, Gin is completely insane. Asked her before if something was wrong and she threw a book at me and told me to bugger off."

"And exactly how is that different from what she usually does?" Hermione asked with an amused look. Brother and sister Weasley loved each other very much, but still fought quite a lot.

"Well…it's the glint in her eyes…like she's about to blow up or something. I'm telling you, it's scary," Ron said, actually looking seriously scared.

Hermione chuckled, "Living in a house full of boys has really taken a toll on you, hasn't it? She's probably just nervous for the ball. Now come on." With Ron grumbling something about all the lethal women in the world they made their way through the portrait hole.

Inside they found everything but a raging Ginny. The young woman in question was sitting in an armchair looking completely miserable. Beside the fireplace she had enchanted a table into a gigantic mirror, which at the time was more like a thousand small pieces of a mirror.

"That's seven years of bad luck you know," Ron said, looking over at the broken mirror.

"Didn't I tell you to bugger off half an hour ago? What exactly gave you the idea that you would be welcome to return?" his sister snarled without looking at him. Both Ron and Harry winced. They knew better than to push their luck when Ginny was mad.

Hermione turned to Harry with a smile, "Hey guys, why don't you two go and make up arrangements with your dates for tonight and I'll take care of this," she said, inclining her head towards Ginny who sat in the chair looking very much like a thunder cloud.

"Fine with me, but shouldn't you rest? I mean, you need to be all ready for the ball tonight," Harry said and winked at her, "And you still haven't told us who your date is."

"Harry, as I have tried to tell you, I don't have a date. I'm not attending the ball tonight."

Hermione said, looking down at her feet. She had decided several days ago that she would skip the ball. Social events were not the most tempting thing at the moment. Ron was about to protest, but Harry silenced him. Taking Hermione by the hand he pulled her away from the others.

Taking her chin in his hand he forced he to look at him. "'Mione, what is the matter? You've been acting strange the past few weeks and I've tried to figure out what's wrong, but I can't. It can't be something as simple as schoolwork keeping you. It's obvious that it's something bigger." Not letting her eyes escape he nailed her with a look filled with concern and care.

"Harry, I…"

"Why don't you talk to me anymore, Hermione? Why don't you come to me when something is wrong? You're my friend and I love you to death, no matter what, Hermione. No matter how much you screw up I will always be there for you. Please tell me you know that."

"I know, Harry, I know," Hermione whispered softly, "I know you love me, and I love you. But right know I can't… I just can't tell you." As she spoke, tears started to well up in her eyes threatening to escape down her cheeks. Silently Harry pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay to cry, ´Mione. No one will hold it against you. You don't always have to be the strong one, let me pick up your pieces sometimes too."

For a moment she was about to tell him everything. Everything about how she had kissed Lucius Malfoy, ended up sharing a bed with him and then being told none of it meant anything to him. The tears were so close and her voice was barely audible when she finally managed to push back the urge to tell Harry everything.

"Not this time, Harry. It's not worth the luxury of a breakdown. It will pass in time, I promise. And when I need someone to pick up my pieces you will be the first to know, okay?" she whispered with a sad smile and squeezed his hand before turning her back to him.

For the first time in a very long while the boy who lived felt helpless. Very helpless. He wanted nothing more than to help Hermione. She was his best friend and had helped him countless times over the years, but never really allowed him to help her and be a shoulder to cry on.

Despite what everyone thought she was extremely reserved, hardly letting anyone close. Harry had lost count how many times he had watched her swallow her own tears to comfort someone else. Sure, Ron was his friend to, but not in the same way as Hermione was. Their feelings had never gone further than friendship, but their friendship was special. What they had was more of a friendship of the soul. Harry sighed. All he could do was hope that she really would come to him when she needed him, because god knows she had been there for him.

In her room Hermione slammed the door shut and leaned heavily against it. She had been so close. So close to telling Harry everything. Would this be one of those major screw-ups that he would help her through? She snorted. It was not very likely that Harry would ever talk to her again if he knew. The growing relationship between Draco and Ginny had been hard enough for him to accept, so exactly what would happen if he knew that Hermione had been involved with Malfoy senior.

'Oh, my god, my life is like a bad TV-show,' Hermione thought tiredly and tried to compose herself the best she could. She had to go downstairs again to see to Ginny's ball-troubles and hopefully neither she, Harry or Ron would ask any question about her sudden escape just a few moments ago. Taking a deep breath she opened the door and walked downstairs, finding Ginny standing in front of the now fixed mirror, changing her jeans and t-shirt into different ball gowns.

"Oh, there you are. I was wondering where you were. How are you feeling?" Ginny asked, pausing what she was doing.

"I'll live. So how's it going with the dresses?"

"It's not going at all. It's hopeless!"

"Can't be that bad; let me see some of them."

"Okay, I'm down to three suggestions," Ginny said and pointed her wand at her self.

"First this one," she said and her clothes changed into a white, glittery gown with sleek features.

"It's pretty, but it's not really you," Hermione said, eyeing the glittery piece of clothing. It kind of looked like something Pansy Parkinson would wear, only more modest.

"Okay, then there is this one." The white gown was replaced by a pale blue gown with a puffy skirt and a short sleeved top with white embroidered flowers scattered across the blue fabric.

"It's, uh, a bit…frilly, don't you think?"

"Okay, it's ugly, but I'm desperate."

"Just show me the last one. I'm sure it's better than this."

"Sure. I actually saved the best for last. What do you think of this one?" Ginny was now wearing an emerald green, sleeveless, two-part dress. The skirt was long enough for the hems of it to grace the floor softly as Ginny moved. The top was a corset inspired one with thin silvery white embroideries decorating it and glittered softly in the dim light of the fireplace crackling behind them.

"Oh my god, Ginny, you look amazing!" Hermione praised, ordering her friend to twirl around.

"Thanks, 'Mione. I was thinking that I could go with white gloves and something white in my hair to follow the rule you know."

"Good idea. Malfoy junior is a very lucky guy. Just make sure he treats you good," Hermione said, looking at her friend seriously.

"Of course, I would never let a guy treat me like… Wait a minute…"

"What?" Hermione asked, eying her friend causally.

"That is what all this is about, isn't it? You suddenly ending up in the hospital wing and then being all sad and broody," Ginny said, fixing Hermione with wondering look.

"I don't know what you mean," Hermione said quietly and turned her face away.

"Don't hide it, Hermione, you don't have to. All this is about Lucius, isn't it? Something happened three days ago, didn't it?"

"Look, talking about what happened won't make it any better. I was wrong when I believed he…" She paused. What was it that she had believed? That Lucius Malfoy was going to fall down to his knees confessing his undying love? Not really, right? "I screwed up, okay? I've now had my fair share of teenage mistakes as they so poetically call them. So let's just leave it there."

Hermione felt Ginny's eyes bore into her back as she turned around and gazed into the fireplace. She knew that her friend wouldn't buy into such bad explanations for much longer, but hopefully she would get the point and leave the matter be for now.

Hermione had no idea what it was that hurt anymore. Her mind was a mess, different kind of emotions blurring her thoughts whatever she tried to do. She turned to leave again, even though she knew Ginny was hurt by her hardness and for not wanting to confide in her.

As she walked towards the stairs to her room Ginny spoke up, "'Mione, would you do one thing for me?"

"What?"

"Please come to the ball. If not for you, then come for me. I don't think you should be alone right now."

Hermione sighed. Maybe Ginny was right. Being at the ball would maybe be better than sitting in her room, moping around all night.

"Fine, I'll go, but only because you asked me to."

"That's good enough," Ginny said and smiled, "But I have to go and take a bath and fix myself up now, so I'll see you tonight." Hermione nodded and watched her friend disappear up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

Agreeing to attend the ball probably wasn't the thing she should have done, but somewhere she knew Ginny was right. Being alone and going over the events in her head over and over again wouldn't do much good, so she could just as well dress up in a pretty dress and pretend to be happy for a while. Speaking of which, she should try to find something to wear if she was to be finished by tonight.

Four hours later Hermione stood in front of the full length mirror in her room, watching her reflection. Not that bad for having spent 3 days in the hospital wing. Her hair was swept up in a simple way with some curls framing her face in a rather flattering way. She had transformed one of her school robes into a snow-white silk gown with a halter neck model. Her back was almost completely bare and the fabric was falling in soft folds resting on the small of her back. Her reflection smiled slyly.

"Nice, that will turn some heads. Go knock 'em dead, girl." Hermione smiled and shook her head. At least her reflection was cheery.

She debated if she should wear gloves, but decided against it. Ball gloves were, after all, horribly warm. Snatching up the large white shawl, wrapping it around her shoulders, she was just about to leave the room when something caught her eye. On a table beside the door the necklace from Lucius rested beside a vase filled with white roses.

Hermione stared blankly at the display; those hadn't been there when she entered the room. With her mouth pursed into a thin line she grabbed the roses, ignoring the thorns pricking her fingers, and walked to the window. Throwing them out into the cold air she watched the roses fall onto the snowy ground. When the roses hit the ground Hermione's world suddenly turned white. For a few moments pictures flashed in front of her. Blood, lots of blood, screams, hundreds of people in pain screaming for mercy. A pair of grey eyes flashing past and then nothing more. Hermione was on her knees, gripping the windowsill tightly.

"No more of this, no more of this," she croaked as she straightened herself up and closed the window firmly. On the ground below snow fell on a pile of white roses, burying them and leaving no trace of the pain and misery they brought.

Upon reaching the great hall, Hermione had composed herself enough to be able to smile to Harry, Ron and Ginny as they showed up with their dates.

"Glad you could make it," Ginny said warmly with her arm linked around Draco's and entered the ballroom.

Both Harry and Ron commented on Hermione's good looks and received less than appreciative glares from each date. Trying to make herself as invisible as possible, Hermione walked into the great hall, already wanting to leave.

Making her way through the crowd she suddenly froze. Less then ten steps in front of her was Lucius Malfoy. He was standing with his back to her so she was yet undetected. She started to back up carefully but accidentally bumped into Dobby who was carrying a tray of drinks.

"Miss Granger! Have a drink. They are really good, a Muggle sort of thing…Cha…Cha…Champing!" Dobby said happily, thrusting the tray towards Hermione. Before she had the chance to say anything someone offered her a glass.

"It is champagne, you foolish little prick. And it is quite tasty, Miss Granger." Hermione almost choked there and then. Beside her Lucius Malfoy was standing, dressed in fashionable black robes and hair tied back with a black silk ribbon.

"No thank you, Mr Malfoy. It does surprise me though, I thought the only thing Muggles did well were music and divorces." With an ice cold glare she turned and walked in the opposite direction. With a silent laugh he followed her through the crowd.

"Fair enough, music, divorces and liquor then. But please, Hermione, be reasonable and don't run away from me. It is quite rude not looking at someone while they talk." Hermione stopped dead and Lucius almost crashed into her. Slowly she turned and stared at him hatefully.

"Rude? You are telling me that I am rude? You were the one using me. You were the one who crushed me between your fingers when I had saved your life!" she was talking in a deadly clam voice, "You out of all people will not tell me that I am rude!" she spat and turned away from him once again to leave, but this time he was faster. Catching her by the arm he pulled her away to a dark corner.

"If you would just listen to me for five minutes and let me explain," he snapped, looking down at the girl who was staring rebelliously at him. She was indeed very beautiful with her face flushed in anger, but it was probably not the right time to tell her that.

Hermione stared at Lucius for a while then nodded. "Fine then, fire away. Tell my why you did what you did."

"I did what I did because I had to. I had to know how you would react if I rejected you."

"And why would that be? Do you have some kind of sick perversion that makes you want to reject people just to see their reaction?"

"Oh, if you only knew my perversions," he mumbled under his breath, making Hermione squirm unwillingly, "But that will have to wait until later, because now I have to talk about far more serious things."

"Like what?" Hermione said, eyeing the blond suspiciously. She wouldn't allow herself to let her guard down for a second before she knew what he was after.

"Dance with me, will you, Miss Granger?" Lucius asked with a sly smile and pulled her over to the dance floor, where hundreds of couples were already dancing to soft, cheery winter tunes. As the pair reached the dance floor the song switched and symphony-like tunes floated through the hall.

_Someone is dancing_

_On my grave_

_Sending shivers_

_Down my spine _

_I hear a laugh,_

_it awoke my soul_

_The wind takes the leafs_

_where he wants them to go_

_His tunes enchant our world,_

_our thoughts and leave us frozen _

_In this heart of mine,_

_It's you I find_

_Take my hand,_

_I'll take you to the promised land,_

_you're the one _

_I hear a laugh,_

_it awoke my soul,_

_The wind takes the leafs_

_where he wants them to go_

_His tunes, enchant our world,_

_our thoughts, and leave us frozen _

_Take my hand,_

_I'll take you to the Promised Land . . ._

Hermione shivered as she felt the words pierce her soul. All this was insanity. Why was she there in his arms when she had promised herself not to let him touch her again? Yet, there she was, in the middle of the Great Hall, among hundreds of students looking at them, and melting into a warm puddle under his touch.

It was like she couldn't help herself, his touch was addictive. Everything about this man was addictive. His hands, his eyes, his voice, his scent…the light scent of musk that made her dizzy every time she inhaled it.

"This probably isn't the smartest thing to do. People are watching you know," Hermione said, referring to the people around them who cast suspicious looks at them every now and then.

"At least it will keep them from listening to what I have to say."

"And what would that be?"

"Before I tell you I need you to promise that you won't interrupt me whatever I say. This is of grave importance and I will not repeat it." Hermione nodded slowly, observing her dance partner. He was looking at her with mixed emotions in his eyes. Mostly showing was the usual cold hardness, but there were hints of seriousness and perhaps worry too.

"When you asked why I even talked to you that evening in the library I gave you numerous reasons. However, none of them were completely correct." Seeing Hermione's eyes widen and her mouth open to snap at him, Lucius quickly went on. "I told you to listen and not speak," he said sharply, "The reason why I approached you in the first place was because I was ordered to."

Carefully weighing his next words not wanting to cause a scene Lucius continued, "Some weeks ago I was approached by the Dark Lord, to whom I am an official ally, which I assume you know. He asked me to follow up his latest plan on how to kill off the Potter-brat. The original idea was to have Severus seduce you, gain your confidence and by that, winning you over to the dark side, which would not only result in a very powerful ally, but also a very effective way to get to Potter.

"As far as your heritage was concerned, the Dark Lord was willing to overlook it due to your magical abilities. Having Severus seduce you would, however, have caused some problems since he is still your teacher. So the mission was therefore reassigned to me."

Hermione looked up at him coldly. "So basically you lot think that I'm that much of a thickhead that I eventually wouldn't start wondering what was going on?"

"Love can make you do the strangest things." Fixing her with his eyes, grey and pale as the moon, he stopped dancing and held her hands in his. Transfixed with his stare Hermione squirmed unwillingly. It was impossible to escape this man. She tried so hard to be cold and brush him off, but every time she floated away in a dream world where nothing else but them existed.

'Damn it, Hermione,' she scolded herself inwardly, 'don't let him get to you.

You're already way deeper in this than you should be.' Whilst one part of her tried to do the reasonable thing and walk away, another part of her wailed in agony and clawed to Lucius like her life depended on it. Pulling herself together she backed away from him and his hands.

"And why would you tell me your plan about how to get to me, Mr Malfoy?

Isn't that rather stupid of you, considering that I can use this to my advantage and get you… shall we say, out of the picture?"

"First of all, Hermione, you wouldn't be able to do that," he said in a low voice, smirking as he approached her again. "And as for the why…because I intend to help you instead of handing you over to the Dark Lord."

"Yeah right, since you care so much for me," she snorted and pulled away, trying to move past him.

"Yes, because I care about you. I thought I made it clear that my words were just meant to test the grounds, no more."

"No, no. No more. This is it; I will not let you get to me again so please just leave me alone!" Hermione snarled and pushed him aside, almost running out of the ballroom.

Lucius gave her back a frustrated glare. Damn it, why wouldn't she see that he was her only way out of this? No matter what she did the Dark Lord would get her. If she didn't allow him to help her, then he could keep her out of reach, at least for a while.

He was surprised that she had been so hurt by his words. Of course he had expected her to react in some way, but not this much. His feelings for her were beginning to be hard to deny and he had hoped that she would provide an easy way out, but her current state of mind changed everything. She was obviously hurt by him rejecting her, which would mean that she cared for him. But what did he feel?

"A thousand Galleons to the person who can answer that question," he muttered and started moving towards where Hermione had disappeared. Why and what he felt had to be dealt with later, what he had to do now was find Hermione.

The young woman in question was standing outside the main doors of Hogwarts staring out over the grounds. Occasional giggles could be heard from a mass of bushes beside the doors, where students were occupied with various nightly activities. How simple it would have been if she had fallen for a boy her own age and been one of those couples fooling around in the bushes. Instead she and Lucius Malfoy had to be star-crossed lovers.

Hermione shuddered slightly. She had no idea what she felt anymore, everything was too confusing. Hate merged with anger, longing and love. Love? Did she love him? Who knew, Merlin knows she didn't. She had no clue what was going on in her heart, it seemed to rise above her understanding. A hand on her shoulder brought her from her thoughts back to reality.

"Please don't be so angry with me," the familiar voice pleaded softly, "I don't want you to hate me, Hermione. Please don't hate me for what I did. Merlin knows I regret it."

"How do I know you mean what you say?" she asked quietly, her voice somewhat shaky.

"Look at me, love." She turned around, finding herself close to Lucius, staring into his eyes. Bringing one hand to hold hers, he slowly brought up the other to her face, softly stroking her cheek. "I don't know why, but your eyes, your lips. Your very essence is haunting me, Hermione. Whenever I close my eyes all I see is you. When you hurt, I hurt…there is something about you which clings to me, bores into me like thorns until I have no idea what's going on."

Hermione stared at him, 'When you hurt, I hurt'…The prophecy, the angel and the devil.

Slowly he let go of her and brought his hands to her neck and with a soft 'pop' the necklace with the rose appeared in his hands. Fastening it around her neck, he gave her a soft smile. A very rare smile from Lucius Malfoy.

"All I can do is give you my word that with me you will be safe. At this moment I'm afraid there is no other option for you than to trust me if you don't wish to end up in the hands of the Dark Lord." Fingering the necklace slowly he continued, "I'm sure you've figured out what this does. That you can see me through it at times. Why this happened I'm not quite sure. All I did was charm the rose into the glass and connected it to this," he pulled out a chain with a small silver plate fastened to it. On it a rose was engraved. "Something happened during the spell, creating a much stronger connection than intended."

"The prophecy," she mumbled.

"What?" he asked, not having heard what she said.

"Nothing, never mind…what would happen if I decided to trust you and allow you to 'protect' me?"

"I will bring you with me to my mansion and keep you there until its safer, distracting the Dark Lord with some sort of manoeuvre."

"You know that is a high risk project, don't you? Eventually he will make me go to him."

"Not if I can stop it," he said passionately. There was no way Voldemort would get Hermione, not as long as it could be prevented.

"What will you do then? Do you have anything that can keep me from him?"

"If I hold you at my mansion long enough under the story that I want you to myself to play with for a while, giving him small pieces of info, he will be happy long enough for us to think of something better."

"You don't expect me to give up secrets about Harry and the Order, do you?" she asked wide-eyed, pulling away a bit.

"Of course not, just some small pieces of false information that seems believable enough, which of course have to be discussed with professor Dumbledore."

Hermione stared at him with disbelief. Was he talking about betraying Voldemort? Why would he do that?

"I sense your questions," he said with a soft sigh, walking past her. "Why would I betray Lord Voldemort, being his most loyal servant?

"Well, first of all I really don't support him to such an extent that I am dependent on him. I prefer to keep to the side which currently seems to be winning. And honestly, Voldemort and his followers are moving downhill. He will need a while to gather up to full strength after the last months of temporary failure. Acting in the right moment could make him easy to bring down."

"Would you do that, bring him down and fight for the other side?"

"If I have to, yes I would."

Hermione sighed. Things weren't exactly getting less complicated. She knew that he was a man always thinking about his own welfare, so it wasn't that strange that he would consider switching sides if he had to. It was just an overwhelming thought.

"If I do agree to come with you, would you promise me something?"

"Anything you want, my pet, anything you want," he smirked, turning around and walked up to her.

"Don't lie to me. Promise me that you will tell me everything."

Taking her small hands between his he looked at her with a sincere expression. "I can't promise you that I will tell you everything; that would put both of us in incredible danger. However I can promise you that I'll never lie to you. I will not tell you everything, but whatever you ask I promise to either answer truthfully or not at all."

She nodded. "I can accept that. At the moment I don't know what I feel for you, but I know that for some reason I can't make you leave my thoughts and that makes me believe I should trust you."

"So you will come with me?" Against his will Lucius' eyes lit up and Hermione's heart melted. She couldn't rid herself of this man. Her heart wouldn't let her.

"I will. But I need to see professor Dumbledore first."

"Of course," he nodded. Taking out his wand he charmed a handkerchief into a Portkey.

"This Portkey will be working between noon and seven o'clock tomorrow night and will bring you directly to my mansion. Speak to Dumbledore before you go and tell him I will come and see him the following day."

Hermione nodded, putting the Portkey in a hidden pocket in the dress.

"I will await your return to me, sweet Hermione," he said, giving her a chaste kiss and then he was gone with a small 'poof'.

'So much for the non-Apparating rule at Hogwarts,' Hermione thought, slowly walking back to the castle, the feeling of his lips on hers burning like fire.

**A/N: Well thats it for this time. I will do my best to update as soon as I can. Thank you for reading this far and please review and tell me what you think **


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